UPPER DIR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf decided to end electoral alliance with its coalition partner in the provincial government, Jamaat-i-Islami, in the district after both the parties failed to devise a formula for the upcoming local government elections.

Although local leaders of both the ruling parties made efforts to contest the local bodies’ elections jointly, yet they failed to salvage the fragile electoral alliance. It could be a major setback for JI as it would be left alone to fight against the four-party alliance in the elections, observers said.

PTI and JI had announced on April 9 to form an electoral alliance and contest the elections jointly. Both the parties had agreed in principle on seat arrangement.

The representatives of both the parties held several meetings to reach an agreement but they failed to devise a formula for seat adjustment, JI sources said.

They said that PTI was demanding a major share that left the party with little options to keep the alliance intact.

JI district general secretary Mir Makhzanud Din, when contacted, confirmed parting ways with PTI. He said that PTI was demanding all the four seats of tehsil nazims in the district besides the seat of district naib nazim.

The JI leader said PTI was also demanding more than 50 per cent seats in the village and neighbourhood councils. He said that their demands were unfair and ridiculous.

Observers term end of alliance major setback for Jamaat

He said that JI offered to PTI the tehsil nazim seat of the district headquarters Dir despite opposition by its some key leaders.

The JI leader said PTI didn’t show any flexibility. However, they had time for consultation within the party before expiry of the date of submission of nomination papers, he added.

PTI district general secretary Mohammad Nawaz Khan also confirmed dissolution of the electoral alliance between the two parties.

He said that they presented their demands to JI in written form but it didn’t give any type of response. He said that they waited for few days for the reply of JI but it disappointed them. He said that it prompted them to pull out of the alliance and contest the elections alone rather than wasting more time.

Sources said that representatives of the both parties met on April 14 for the last time and tried to reach a consensus but the talks didn’t dear fruits. After parting ways, both the parties accelerated their activities. They were finalising the names of candidates, empowering the local committees to make decisions in that regard, sources said.

They said that different political parties formed alliances for local bodies’ elections but devising a formula for seat adjustment was still a problem. In this situation, many candidates, belonging to different political parties, would file nomination papers independently in various parts of the district, sources said.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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