KHYBER: With 14 candidates in the running for NA-27, the only National Assembly seat in Khyber tribal district, the main contest is likely to take place among the nominees of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam- Fazl, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami.

The PML-N has fielded Al-Haj Shahji Gul, who merged his party Tehreek Eslahaat Party with it only a few months before the announcement of the schedule of the Feb 8 general elections.

Shahji Gul won one of the district’s two National Assembly seats in the 2013 general elections.

The PTI has named its previous candidate and election winner, Iqbal Afridi.

The Jamaat-i-Islami has also fielded its three times nominee, Shah Faisal Afridi, while the JUI-F has awarded its election ticket to Hameedullah Jan Afridi, who won the seat in 2008 election as an independent candidate and served as a federal minister for environment.

Observers say women candidates in PK-69, 70 and 71 will not make an impact

Political observers told Dawn that it was likely to be a one-on-one contest between Al-Haj Shahji Gul of the PML-N and Iqbal Afridi of the PTI as Hameedulah Jan Afridi was focusing his attention more on winning the PK-70 seat.

They said the JI candidate struggled to muster up voter support in the previous elections.

“The field is open to Al-Haj Shahji Gul as he has no challenging candidate against him in his native tehsil of Jamrud, while in Bara and Landi Kotal tehsils, votes of his rivals are mostly divided either along party lines of candidates or within the PTI,” journalist Qazi Fazllulah told Dawn.

He said the PTI differences and a lack of interest of the JUI-F contender could largely benefit the PML-N candidate, who also has an edge in running an organised and vigorous election campaign compared to opponents.

However, Sajid Ali Kukikhel, a young political activist, insisted that the JI candidate could sprang a surprise as its candidate Shah Faisal and his party’s candidate for PK-71 Khan Wali were using the nationalist slogan of anti-military operations in Tirah and Upper Bara and the displacement of hundreds of families who were “denied” the official status of IDPs.

Observers believe that the contest for PK-69 seat could mainly be between PTI candidate Adnan Qadri, nephew of Allan Noorul Haq Qadri, a federal minister in the previous PTI government, and PML-N candidate Shafeeq Sher who had won the same seat in the previous election held after the 2018 Fata merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A total of 28 candidates including a woman filed nomination papers for PK-69 (Khyber-1).

In the PK-70 (Khyber-2), former MNA Hameedullah Jan of the JUI-F is facing a tough contest from Bilawal Afridi of the PML-N and Suhail Afridi of the PTI.

Observers opine that with Hameedullah Afridi and Suhail Afridi hailing from Bara, the splitting of their votes and resentment among PTI workers in Jamrud for denial of provincial assembly ticket could benefit the PML-N candidate who won the same seat in the previous elections.

For the PK-71 (Khyber-3) seat, PTI’s Abdul Ghani, JUI-F’s Shamsuddin and JI’s Khan Wali are the main contestants along with 22 others.

Khiyal Mat Shah, a political observer in Bara, told Dawn that Abdul Ghani of the PTI had the most following in his constituency and he was also banking on the sympathy factor after the jail sentences of PTI founder Imran Khan.

He added that Mr Ghani’s close rivals included Khan Wali of the JI and Shamsuddin of the JUI-F who had a considerable vote bank in Tirah valley and other parts of Bara.

The observers said the three woman candidates for PK-69, PK-70 and PK-71 could not make any “plausible” impact in their restricted election campaigns.

They said Shakira Shinwari of PK-69, Lal Zaida of PK-70 and Naseem Riaz of PK-71 largely focused their electoral drives on women voters and didn’t approach male voters directly.

At the start of their campaigns, they declared that tribal culture and traditions were the main hurdles to their efforts to solicit votes.

Meanwhile, the PML-N candidates for the National Assembly and provincial assembly seats have changed their campaign strategy by refraining from the “use of money” and organising “public kitchens” in their respective election offices, especially in Jamrud and Landi Kotal.

Opponents in the previous elections accused them of using money and providing free food to their supporters and regular visitors to the elections offices.

No such activity was witnessed in their current campaigns.

To find your constituency and location of your polling booth, SMS your NIC number (no spaces) to 8300. Once you know your constituency, visit the ECP website here for candidates.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024