LAKKI MARWAT: Like Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has also fielded candidates for the one seat of National Assembly and three seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in Lakki Marwat district. Awami National Party is also in the election race by fielding its candidates in PK-92, Lakki Marwat-II, and PK-93, Lakki Marwat-III.

In PK-93, ANP is running a door-to-door campaign to muster support for its candidate advocate Sadruddin. Former lawmaker Ms Yasmeen Zia is leading the campaign in certain rural union councils for her husband.

Mr Sadruddin had contested the 2008 and 2013 general elections on ANP ticket and had lost on both the occasions. However, the party got elected Yasmeen Zia as MPA on reserved seats for women. During the ANP government she got sanctioned several uplift schemers for the district.

ANP’s Sadruddin also emerging as strong contender

“The traditional political elite and former MPs can’t compete us as far as the uplift projects executed during the ANP government are concerned,” Mr Sadruddin claimed. He said that PTI-led government had failed to start any major development project in this district during the last five years.

He said that during last five years he focused on strengthening the party in the union and village councils and had held corner meetings with workers in this regard.

Mr Sadruddin is considered a strong candidate in PK-93 alongside former MPA and MMA candidate Anwar Hayat and Tariq Saeed of PTI.

Mr Hayat who was elected MPA on JUI-F ticket in 2013 is facing difficulties in his poll campaign. His son-in-law Mohammad Riaz is also in the poll arena while dissident leaders of JUI-F, including former MPA Zafrullah Khan, are also vying for the seat. It has been learnt that spiritual leader of Zakori family, Pir Mohammad Fawad Zakori, has refused to run campaign for Mr Hayat in the constituency.

PTI’s Tariq Saeed belongs to Maidadkhel family and is also considered a strong contender for PK-93. Mr Saeed, the nephew of former MNA Naseer Mohammad, is relying on Saifullah brothers and sub-tribes, including Takhtikhel, Mammakhel, Dilkhozai, Musakhel and Naserkhel to support him in the July 25 elections.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2018