GUJRAT: Former minister of Azad and Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Chaudhry Akbar Ibrahim, who has been an aspirant for the party ticket in the Legislative Assembly’s constituency of LA-34, Jammu-5, after joining the PML-N, will contest the election scheduled for July 21 as an independent candidate if the PML-N does not award him ticket.

“Since I have served the people of my constituency for the last 15 years while being the minister in AJK government twice (2006 and 2011) and has a strong support of the voters, my supporters want me to stay in the race even if the PML-N does not award me a ticket,” he said while talking to Dawn.

Akbar Ibrahim had contested last three polls in 2001, 2006 and 2011 with the support of the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q and won the election twice (in 2006 and 2011) while in the last election he was a joint candidate of the PML-Q and the PPP. However, he had contested all three elections as an independent candidate. He was sacked from the AJK Cabinet by PPP-backed Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed a few months back when he (Ibrahim) applied for the PML-N ticket while being a minister in the PPP-led government.

The LA-34 constituency mainly comprises Kashmiri immigrants settled in districts of Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Wazirabad. As the PML-N lawmakers in these districts have influence on the voters as well as in the party, Akbar Ibrahim has been facing an uphill task of winning support of these lawmakers, especially those from Gujrat.

As Mr Ibrahim has a long history of affiliation with the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q spanning over two decades, the Nawabzada family, the Kotla group, ex-MPA Haji Nasir Mahmood and others of the PML-N find it hard to extend support his candidature.

These groups have reportedly been supporting the candidature of Haji Javed Akhtar, another former minister in the AJK and last time’s runner-up who was a PML-N nominee in 2011.

It seems that Mr Ibrahim has now decided to opt for contesting as an independent candidate after the lack of support from the PML-N. He admitted that the local PML-N lawmakers had not been supporting his candidature since he joined the party without involving the local party cadres and lawmakers from Gujrat. However, he said, he was still hopeful that the PML-N would consider his support among the voters as well as his services for the constituency during his two stints as a minister in AJK governments.

On the other hand, the Chaudhrys of PML-Q might forge an electoral alliance with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) as Chaudhry Afzal Malhi, a retired official of the local government department with a strong backing from the PML-Q, has applied for the PTI ticket from LA-34. He will contest as a joint candidate of both the parties. However, the PTI is yet to decide the ticket as another worker Raja Sikandar, a former union council Nazim of PML-Q from Gujrat city, is also among the aspirants of the party ticket.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2016