Reversal of fortunes

Despite being a dominant party since 2013 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI’s recent setback in the first phase of local government polls was extraordinary but understandable. The ruling party suffered by losing the status of the most popular party in the province.

Grabbing the pivotal seat of the Peshawar mayor and securing chairmanship and mayorship in 16 sub-districts, the JUI ensured its comeback as the victorious party in the province.

After suffering a historical reverse, Prime Minister Imran Khan quickly attributed the defeat to wrong candidate selection and vowed to personally monitor the entire campaign in the next phase. But key ministers of the defeated party pinned the blame on the price hike and uncontrolled inflation in the country. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz pointed out that internal strife in the party could have been behind his party’s setback in KP.

There are no two opinions that both the above factors were responsible for the PTI’s blow in the local bodies polls but many other blunders committed by the ruling party have played a vital role in this setback.

First, after coming into power, the PTI didn't realise ground realities and began making tall claims to the people which they couldn't fulfill at all. Rather than focusing on its internal faults, the PTI started to target its rivals. The Peshawar valley (Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshehra, Mardan and Swabi) is considered the main stronghold of the ruling party where the opposition gave a tough time to its candidates. This illustrates that in the next phase of the election, Malakand Division, Mansehra, Abotabad and some parts of erstwhile Fata will easily fall to the opposition parties.

Second, an awkward organisational structure of the PTI led to its defeat in the recent LG polls. Third, the prevailing lawlessness in the province was also a responsible factor. During the polling hours, two workers belonging to the ANP were killed in Bajaur and several others were wounded. In DI Khan, Omar Khitab Sherani, president of the DI Khan chapter of the ANP and also candidate for the mayor seat was ruthlessly assassinated a day before the polling.

The PTI secured one hundred percent seats of the province in the 2018 elections but it saw major setbacks in the same districts in the local bodies polls. In Mardan, the PTI almost won all the national and provincial assembly seats but it lost district mayor to the ANP and all the Tehsils to the JUI. Take Katlang, the constituency of federal minister Ali Mohammad Khan where the PTI’s position was so unsatisfactory.

The Jamiat-Ulema Islam (JUI) which had gone into the background somewhat since the emergence of the PTI in the province, once again got a new birth by defeating the ruling faction. As a staunch PTI rival, the JUI-F posed itself to be the only option before the angry voters of the province. In the past, the JUI-F was restricted to the southern parts of KP, but for the first time it bagged noteworthy votes in the centre and Peshawar, Swabi and Charsadda as well.

In order to escape this kind of embarrassment, the PTI needs to probe all the factors responsible for pushing it into the background. The ruling party, which has started losing its previous prestige with each passing day, must reshape its narrative to avoid further reversals in the upcoming elections.

The writer is a lecturer at Degree

College Zhob. He can be reached at: hussainhunarmal@gmail.com