Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the rise of "religious extremist" political parties such as the recently unbanned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam would ultimately harm the country, adding that the ruling PTI was the only "national party" in the country.

The minister expressed these views while speaking to the media after a meeting of the federal cabinet, where he said that the recently concluded local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not come under discussion.

Fawad was speaking to media a day after the PTI faced a major upset in the first phase of KP local body polls, while the JUI-F bagged the highest number of mayor/chairman seats.

"Today was a meeting of a the federal cabinet, not a meeting of the PTI's core committee. We will talk about this at a meeting for the core committee," he said when asked about his concerns over the results of the polls.

When the reporters continued to probe him, the minister said that the reason for the ruling party's failure in the polls was "clear".

"When three to four candidates from the same party contest the polls in the same constituency, then they will [inevitably] lose the election. This is what happened in most of the areas," he said, adding that the party's MNAs and MPAs were also not happy.

"Each constituency needs to be managed, and we lost most of the contests due to these management issues," he said.

However, this just proves that the PTI is a national party, he said, adding that the rest were merely "local parties". "If the PTI did not exist then there would be no national party in the country."

Talking about the JUI-F, he said that the party had ruined the education and finance sectors in KP in 2002. "It is unfortunate that, due to our mistakes, such a political party has been noticed [by the people]," he said.

He said that the rise of "religious extremist parties" such as the TLP and JUI-F would ultimately harm the country.

The minister said that the PML-N and the PPP no longer had any standing in the political arena, reiterating that the PTI was the only national party.

Pakistan will be affected if the PTI faces setbacks and such "political dwarfs" get the chance to step into the limelight, he said, adding that PTI leaders needed to strengthen party chief Imran Khan. "Without Imran Khan, politics in Pakistan will scatter into pieces."

He expressed the hope that the party's leadership will learn from the current situation.

Responding to another question from a reporter, he said that he was "disappointed" at the fact that the JUI-F had bagged the highest number of seats in the first phase of local government elections in KP.

"Such parties are a sign of a retrogressive society and a sign that things in the country are not fine. It is not a reassuring thing for society when people who are against women's rights, against [basic] freedoms [...] come into power," he said.

The minister added that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman's coming into power was "unfortunate".

PM Imran pins blame on 'wrong candidate selection'

Earlier today, PM Imran said his party "made mistakes" as he pinned the blame of a lacklustre poll performance on "wrong candidate selection".

To make sure the mistakes are not repeated, the prime minister said, he would "personally oversee" the party strategy for the second phase of the elections scheduled to be held next month.

"PTI made mistakes in [the] first phase of KP LG elections and paid the price," he tweeted. "Wrong candidate selection was a major cause.

"From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI's LG election strategy in [the] second phase of KP LG elections & LG elections across Pakistan."

The information minister had also urged PTI leadership and workers to set aside their differences and unite under PM Imran's leadership.

"If the PTI is weakened at this time then the country will fall to the wolves," Chaudhry tweeted.

KP LG polls

The remarks by the PTI leadership come on the heels of a dismal performance by the ruling party in KP local body polls that saw it concede ground to the opposition, and especially rival party JUI-F.

The JUI-F managed to grab the highest number of mayor/chairman seats in the elections for 39 tehsils of KP held on Sunday.

According to the provisional results of 39 of the 63 tehsils declared by the Election Commission of Pakistan on Monday, the JUI-F not only won 15 seats of mayor/chairman but also gave a tough fight in many other tehsils where its candidates stood as runners-up.

In the provincial capital, the JUI-F stunned the PTI and has a definitive lead in the contest for the mayor of Peshawar city. JUI-F candidate Haji Zubair Ali secured 62,388 votes against 50,659 votes secured by PTI’s Rizwan Bangash.

Of the remaining six tehsil chairman seats of Peshawar, the JUI-F managed to clinch four while the PTI could get one seat of tehsil chairman from the provincial capital.

It is for the first time that the JUI-F made its mark in the provincial capital, far from its traditional power base of southern KP. Interestingly, the JUI-F also emerged victorious in Charsadda, beating the Awami National Party (ANP) on its home turf. Also, the JUI-F emerged powerful in Mardan, where its candidate lost the mayor seat to the ANP with a margin of 6,000 votes.

In Mardan, the JUI-F secured three seats and the ANP emerged victorious on two of the five tehsil seats.

In Nowshera, the PTI and ANP grabbed one seat of tehsil chairman each, while the result from the third tehsil was awaited. PTI candidate Ishaq Khattak, son of Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, won the seat by securing over 49,000 votes against the JUI-F candidate who secured over 40,000 votes.

In Swabi, the JUI-F, PML-N and the ANP and the PTI won a tehsil chairman seat each.

Of the three Kohat tehsils, the JUI-F candidate and an independent secured one chairman seat each, while the results of third tehsil were awaited.

In Bannu, the JUI-F emerged victorious in one of the six tehsils, while results of the five remaining tehsils were awaited.

Also, both tehsils of Tank were won by the JUI-F.

However, in Dera Ismail Khan — the hometown of JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman — provisional results of four of the six tehsils showed the PTI, Jamaat-i-Islami, PPP and an independent secured one tehsil chairman seat each.

In Buner district, the ruling PTI showed strength by winning four of the six chairman seats. The result of one tehsil was still awaited, while another went to the ANP.

In Haripur, the PML-N got two seats, while the third seat went to an independent.

While results of the remaining tehsils have not been declared, the JUI-F was said to be leading in six tehsils, the PTI in four, independents in three, the ANP in two and the PPP in one tehsil.