The Peshawar district will have one extra National Assembly and three provincial assembly seats in the 2018 general election as per the new delimitation of constituencies.
The Awami National Party (ANP) has taken the lead by announcing its candidates for three National Assembly and eleven provincial assembly seats.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has apparently emerged the most popular party in Peshawar, considering the number of applications for party ticket for contesting the polls.
However, it could face difficulty in choosing candidates for the election as a majority of the ticket-seekers are newcomers who recently joined the Imran Khan-led party.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) has yet to attract any prominent figures or political families to contest the polls from its platform in Peshawar.
The recently-revived Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) has yet to decide its candidates for the general election, but one of its major components, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), has announced candidates for all five National Assembly and 14 provincial assembly constituencies.
As per the fresh delimitation, Peshawar now has five National Assembly constituencies, i.e. NA-27, NA-28, NA-29, NA-30 and NA-31.
The provincial assembly constituencies start from PK-66 to PK-79.
The previous NA-1 constituency has now been given to the remote and mountainous Chitral district.
A number of politicians, including Noor Alam Khan of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Arbab Najeeb of the ANP, Nasir Khan Musazai of the PML-N, late provincial minister Arbab Ayub Jan’s son Arbab Usman, late PPP leader Iftikhar Khan Jhagra’s nephew Taimur Khan Jhagra, former Peshawar district official Shaukat Ali, former PML-N member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) Arbab Akbar Waseem, late PTI member of the National Assembly (MNA) Gulzar Khan’s son Asad Gulzar, former ANP lawmaker Aurangzeb Khan, and others resigned from their respective parties and joined the PTI in the hope to get its ticket for contesting the general election.
On the other hand, the PTI lost its four MPAs after the Senate election, which might affect its vote-bank.
“The party had received dozens of applications for tickets in Peshawar district, but preference would be given to those who remained loyal to it,” PTI MPA Shaukat Yousafzai said.
He added, however, that electables and prominent personalities who had joined the PTI would not be ignored in the distribution of tickets.
The critics said that the PTI would face problems in several constituencies in Peshawar due to having too many prominent figures vying for its ticket.
For example, Arbab Usman quit the ANP, and then the PPP, and joined the PTI.
He is seeking ticket for PK-69 Peshawar while his political rival Taimur Khan Jhagra has also joined the party and applied for party ticket for the same constituency.
They would also have to contend with sitting PTI MPA Arbab Jehandad and aspiring candidate Nawabzada Shakil Afridi, who has done work at the grassroots level in the constituency.
“The party would definitely look into family influence, public contacts and vote-bank in a constituency while awarding ticket to a candidate,” said Arbab Usman, who pointed out that his father was elected five times to provincial assembly from that area.
ANP provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak said that his party had awarded tickets to Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Arbab Kamal, and Alamgir Khan Khalil for the three National Assembly seats in Peshawar.
He said applicants have been interviewed for the remaining two constituencies.
He said that Haroon Bilour, Syed Aqil Shah, Saqibullah Chamkani, Khushdil Khan, Malik Nasim, Haji Hidayat, Ibrar Khalil, Ashfaq Khalil and Haji Awais have been given tickets for Provincial Assembly seats.
Sardar Hussain Babak said that candidates for PK- 72, PK-73 and PK-79 Peshawar were yet to be announced.
The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Peshawar chapter has announced its candidates for five National Assembly and 14 provincial assembly seats, but it said the names would be finalised after adjustment with the other components of the MMA in the district.
“The party’s local chapters and activists have proposed the names for potential candidates, but the final decision rests with the MMA leadership,” said JI spokesman Mohammad Iqbal.
He said that Sabir Hussain Awan, Dr Iqbal Khalil, Niaz Mohammad, Siddiqur Rehman Paracha, and Mian Noor Saeed, are the expected candidates for the National Assembly constituencies in Peshawar.
Mohammad Iqbal added that Hafiz Hashmat, Kashif Azam, Javed Mohmand, Khalid Waqas Chamkani, Sherzaman, and Khalid Gul Mohmand would be the expected candidates for provincial assembly constituencies in Peshawar.
When contacted, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial information secretary Abdul Jalil Jan said that the party had not finalised names of candidates, but had proposed three names for each Provincial Assembly and National Assembly seat from Peshawar.
He added that Ghulam Ali, Maulana Amanullah Haqqani, Asif Iqbal Daudzai, Khalid Waqar, and Atifur Rehman could be the potential candidate but their names had not been finalised.
The PPP has also sought applications for tickets in Peshawar.
According to sources, dozens of applications had been received for national and provincial assemblies’ seats.
Former federal minister Arbab Alamgir Khalil, his spouse Asma Alamgir, former speaker Kiramatullah Chagarmatti, Ziaullah Afridi, Zahir Ali Shah, Haji Sharif, and Ibrar Khan Nahaqi are the prominent PPP leaders who have applied for tickets.
The Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) has also asked for applications for party tickets in Peshawar and has yet to announce the candidates.
QWP general secretary Hashim Babar said that he would contest the election from the provincial assembly constituency PK-66.
He said that the names of other candidates would soon be announced.
The PML-N has no prominent figures to contest the next polls from Peshawar.
However, the sons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Adviser to Prime Minister Amir Muqam, and Haroon Sifat are likely to contest election on the PML-N ticket from Peshawar.
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