SWABI, June 1: Around 50 people have applied for the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf ticket to contest by-election for the NA-13, Swabi seat vacated by Speaker of the provincial assembly Asad Qaisar.

Mr Qaisar has taken the oath as a successful candidate from the PK-35, Swabi constituency.

In the election for NA-13, Mr Qaisar had secured 48,416 votes followed by Attaul Haq of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl with 28,518 votes and Iftikhar Ahmad Khan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with 21,338 votes in the May 11 election.

In the 2008 election, Awami National Party’s Pervez Khan had secured the seat.

Among those in the running for the PTI ticket for NA-13 are Rangaiz Khan, who was the runner-up from the PK-36, Swabi constituency in the May 11 election, PTI district senior vice president Sohail Yousufzai, Asif Karim, Dr Fazal Ellahi, Nadeem Tahir, Tahir Salim, Salman Faisal, Abdul Sattar, Mohammad Sohail and Adnan Khan.

Rangaiz Khan said he considered himself to be a good candidate and therefore, he had applied for the party ticket.

“The party leadership has sought applications for ticket and I just applied for it. I am sure PTI will secure the seat in by-election easily,” he said.

People in the party said the role of Mr Qaisar was likely to be crucial during the award of ticket first because he had won from the constituency and second because he was also the party’s provincial president.

When contacted, the PTI district senior vice president said around 50 candidates from the four tehsils of the district had applied for the party ticket.

“They all have been lobbying for the ticket. We welcome them all as it is their democratic right to do so,” he said.

Mr Yousufzai said the party’s top leadership would decide about the candidate after going through the applications and interviewing aspirants.

It is not clear whether the partners of the provincial ruling coalition, including Jamaat-i-Islami, Qaumi Watan Party and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, will field own candidates or support the PTI contestant.

In the May 11 election, AJIP chairman Shahram Khan secured 14,410 votes and Amir Nawaz Khan of JI 4,846, while QWP had supported JUI-F candidate Attaul Haq.

Political observers say failure of the ruling coalition to field a joint candidate in the by-election will help opposition contestants.