MARDAN: Differences have emerged within the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf over nomination for the election of Mardan tehsil’s mayor.

According to PTI sources, two groups are vying for the mayor’s candidature and one of them comprises provincial minister Atif Khan and MPAs Tufail Anjum and Zahir Shah Toru and the other consists of MPAs Iftikhar Ali Mashwani, Ameer Farzand, Abdus Salam Afridi and Malik Shaukat.

Seven aspirants have submitted nomination papers for the election.Of them, Mohammad Ayaz Safi, Tariq Mehmood Aryani, Lakhkar Khan and Shahid Bacha are supported by Atif Khan Group and Sajid Iqbal Mohmand and Kaleemullah Toru by the Iftikhar Mashwani Group.

Naeem Anwar is also in the running on his own.

Mardan tehsil consists of 28 union councils. Of them, five are located in the constituency of provincial minister Atif Khan, two in Ameer Farzand Khan’s and one in Iftikhar Mashwani’s, while the entire constituencies of MPAs Zahir Shah Khan Toru and Abdus Salam Afridi are included in the tehsil.

Unlike the PTI, the other political parties have named candidates for the mayor’s election.

Awami National Party has awarded ticket to former district nazim Himayatullah Mayar, Jamiat Ulema-i-Isalm-Fazl to former MPA Amanat Shah Haqqani, PPP to former naib district nazim Asad Ali Kashmiri, Jamaat-i-Islami to former naib tehsil nazim Mushtaq Seemab, and PML-N to its district president, Syed Inayat Ali Shah Bacha.

The candidates are holding corner meetings and going from door to door to solicit votes.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2021