Top leaders in KP to contest from hometowns

Asfandyar wali khan, Imran Khan, Maulana Fazl Ur Rehman

PESHAWAR: Top leaders of the political parties hailing from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are planning to contest the upcoming polls from their hometown constituencies.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and former president of Pakistan General (R) Pervez Musharraf are also likely to contest from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Musharraf had announced his intention to contest for the lone National Assembly seat from Chitral. It isn’t clear from where Imran would contest but Swat and Peshawar have been mentioned as like places from where he would try his luck.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) has proposed the name of Maulana Fazlur Rehman as candidate for two National Assembly constituencies of Dera Ismail Khan and Tank districts. The JUI-F chief had also contested polls on two National Assembly seats, Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu, in the 2008 general election, losing from the former and winning the latter.

Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan will contest for NA-7 Charsadda in his native district wherefrom he was elected to the National Assembly in the 2008 general election. He had lost another National Assembly seat from Swabi district in the same election.

Aftab Sherpao, Nawaz Sharif, Siraj Ul Haq

Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) chief Aftab Sherpao, who belongs to Sherpao village in Charsadda, will contest from his hometown constituency NA-8 Charsadda. He had won this seat along with a provincial assembly seat in the 2008 polls. His son Sikandar Hayat Sherpao, who is also provincial chairman of the QWP, will contest for provincial assembly seat from Charsadda.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Vice-President Amir Muqam would again contest polls from his native Shangla district, wherefrom he was elected to the National Assembly in the 2002 and 2008 general elections. In the 2008 polls, when Amir Muqam was provincial president of PML-Q, he had also contested from NA-4 Peshawar and lost to ANP candidate Arbab Zahir Khan. As Amir Muqam is also keen to do provincial politics, he is also planning to fight for a provincial assembly seat, most probably from Swat district.

Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief and former senior provincial minister Sirajul Haq has been nominated to contest for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat from his native Lower Dir district where his main opponent would be ANP’s outgoing provincial minister Hidayatullah.

Asif Luqman Qazi, son of late Qazi Hussain Ahmad, has been nominated by the JI to contest for NA-5 Nowshera, the seat his father had won in 2002, and also provincial assembly constituency PK-14 Nowshera.

Maulana Hamid-ul-Haq, son of Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, has been nominated to contest for NA-6 Nowshera by his party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami. He was elected to the National Assembly on this seat on the MMA ticket in 2002 but didn’t take part in the 2008 polls in which ANP candidate Masood Abbas Khattak emerged victorious by defeating Mian Jamsheduddin of PPP-Sherpao and Mian Muzaffar Shah of PPP.

Pakistan Muslim League-Likeminded (PML-LM) Chairman Salim Saifullah Khan is going to contest election from his own town Lakki Marwat (NA-27) while Pakistan People’s Party provincial president Anwar Saifullah Khan will contest for a provincial assembly seat from his native Lakki Marwat.

The ANP has nominated former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti to contest from NA-9 Mardan in his native city and also from PK-23 Mardan. His rival in NA-9 would be PML-N’s Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, who had quit the ANP to join Imran Khan’s PTI before gravitating to Nawaz Sharif’s party.

Source: TheNews