CHARSADDA: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Awami National Party and Qaumi Watan Party have failed to make electoral alliances or seat adjustment deals here for the Feb 8, 2024, general elections.

Several rounds of negotiations took place among these mainstream parties lately but they all ended without breakthrough, according to sources.

They claimed that the JUI-F faced strong resistance from within over the proposed electoral alliance or seat adjustment with the ANP or QWP in PK-62 constituency.

The sources insisted that JUI-F nominee Maulana Kamal Shah, after getting a go-ahead from the party’s provincial leadership, had established his election office in the area.

In some constituencies, party activists have already announced they will contest election as independents. Two of them belong to the same constituency.

The sources said under those unfavourable circumstances, the party’s district leadership was reluctant to make an electoral alliance or seat adjustment with the ANP and QWP.

Meanwhile, the JUI-F’s office-bearers in various union councils of PK-64 on Tuesday demanded of the party’s central and provincial leadership to award PK-64 election ticket to Haji Ahmad Ali Jan and warn if that didn’t happen, they would support Mr Jan as an independent candidate.

During a joint news conference, they also insisted that the denial of the PK-64 ticket to Mr Jan would badly hit the party’s position in the NA-24 constituency.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz are understood to be in contact with the Qaumi Watan Party for seat adjustment.

However, formal negotiations for cooperation in the Feb 8 elections have yet to take place.

Insiders claim that talks among three political parties, which would begin shortly, could lead to the formation of an electoral alliance.

EXAMS RESCHEDULED: Authorities have rescheduled the board exam for matriculation across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from March 14 to April 18.

Chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Peshawar Prof Nasrullah Khan Yousafzai told reporters that the decision about the rescheduling of matriculation exam was made in a meeting of the chairmen of the province’s all education boards.

He said the development came at the request of students and their parents as well as in light of the start of the fasting month of Ramazan.

Mr Yousafzai said after the rescheduling of the exam, students would get enough time to prepare for it.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024