LANDI KOTAL, May 20: Differences have surfaced among the boycotting candidates from Bara over the issue of fielding a consensus candidate for May 25 re-poling on 21 controversial polling stations.

Out of the total 18 candidates who had earlier boycotted the May 11 general elections on charges of rigging and mismanagement during poling at Shah Kas, 16 met at the resident of a former MNA and now a candidate Mohammad Shah to devise a strategy to field a consensus candidate against the leading contender Hamidullah Jan Afridi.

But, Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Shah Faisal and PML-N contestant Suhail Afridi vehemently opposed the idea and walked out of the meeting.

The boycotting candidates formed a five-member committee comprising independents Malik Waris Khan, Munsif Ali Khan, Sardar Asghar, Jan Akbar and Haji Kaptan to explore the possibility of fielding a consensus candidate to contest the May 25 re-polling against Hamidullah Jan.

It is worth mentioning here that the Khyber Agency political agent has, in a letter to the EC, recommended to postpone the May 25 re-election till an appropriate date in June as according to him preparations could not be made in such a short time for the re-polling.

He cautioned of bloodshed among the supporters of different candidates if their grievances were not properly addressed.

The EC is yet to respond to the request.