HARIPUR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is likely to see a split over nominations for the upcoming general elections here.

The observers fear that many ideologues will distance themselves from the affairs of the Imran Khan-led party over failure to get election tickets, while others will contest elections independently.

PTI divisional president and MPA from Kohistan Zargul Khan had interviewed hopefuls for the party tickets Hazara division at Imran Khan’s Banigala mansion in Islamabad on May 20.

The party will name candidates afterward.

Haripur district has one National Assembly seat and three provincial assembly seats.

Observers fear many to contest coming polls independently over failure to get party tickets

Former PTI MNA and senior member Dr Raja Amir Zaman and former state minister for finance Omar Ayub Khan have applied for the NA-17 party ticket.

Though sitting MPA and adviser to CM Akbar Ayub Khan, the first cousin of Omar Ayub Khan and elder brother of former provincial minister Yousuf Ayub Khan, has emerged the lone aspirant for the party ticket in the PK-40 constituency, there are three strong people in the running for the PK-41 ticket, including Akbar Ayub Khan’s brother, Arshad Ayub Khan, Chaudhry Abid Mukhtar of the influential Gujjar tribe of upper Khanpur and retired colonel Sardar Ahmad Yar Jang Durrani.

In PK-42, district council member Malik Tahir Iqbal and tehsil councillor Nasir Iqbal are the hopefuls for the party ticket. Faisal Zaman, the current PTI MPA from the constituency, didn’t appear before the interview panel for facing the charge of horse-trading in the recent Senate elections.

The observers said the real test for the PTI leadership was to select the ‘right’ candidate from among the aspirants, who all claimed to be electables.

They said the PTI, which had seen split during the last local body elections in Haripur, was confident to sweeping the general elections in the district.

According to them, both NA-17 ticket hopefuls, including Dr Raja Amir Zaman and Omar Ayub Khan, are political heavyweights and stand a good chance of winning the National Assembly seat, which was clinched by the PML-N in the by-elections.

However, Dr Raja Amir, which is unlikely to be fielded by the PTI in the constituency due to the leadership’s liking for Omar Ayub Khan, will contest election independently as announced by him earlier.

The observers say Dr Raja Amir contesting elections as an independent candidate will adversely impact on Omar Ayub’s victory margin.

The situation is no different in PK-41.

Ch Abid Mukhtar Gujjar, younger brother of PTI district council member Ch Majid Mukhtar and son of PPP leader late Ch Mukhtar Gujjar, is eying the PTI ticket.

Since the personality and caste-based voting patterns prevail in the area, 60 per cent of the PK-41 voters are Gujjars and Awans. Sardar Mushtaq of the Gujjar community has won the provincial assembly seat twice and National Assembly seat once.

Since his family enjoys political influence in the area, Ch Abid Mukhtar is quite confident of getting the party ticket.

“I am the only local candidate for the constituency with the family having massive contributions for the development of the area,” he told Dawn.

He said the other major aspirant for the ticket was Arshad Ayub Khan, who even did not know the names of villages he wanted to contest the elections from.

He also said giving three election tickets to the same family (Ayubs) had several adverse ramifications.

PTI worker from Khanpur area Naeem Malik feared that if the tickets weren’t awarded on merit, party would suffer a lot in elections.

In PK-42, MPA Faisal Zaman is likely to contest polls independently if the party doesn’t clear him of graft charges. He, the observers insist, can make the PTI lose the seat it won in the last elections as none of the two hopefuls including Nasir Iqbal and Malik Tahir Iqbal can defeat PML-N candidate Sahibzada Qasim Shah, the nephew of Pir Sabir Shah.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2018