DERA ISMAIL KHAN: There is a likelihood of PTI provincial president Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur vacating the National Assembly seat he won along with the provincial one from here.

He won Thursday’s general election in one National Assembly constituency (NA-44) and one provincial assembly constituency (PK-113) but he can keep one seat only.

“We think Ali Amin [Gandapur] will vacate the NA-44 seat as he’s likely to become [KP] CM. However, the nomination for this key office will be made by PTI founder Imran Khan,” PTI leader Gandapur’s brother Sardar Umar Amin Khan told Dawn here.

In the past, the CM’s office was occupied by two residents of the Dera Ismail Khan district – Mufti Mehmood and Sardar Inayatullah Khan Gandapur.

PTI-backed Ali Amin Gandapur defeated JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in NA-44 and JUI-F nominee Kafeel Ahmad Nizami in PK-113 by a huge margin.

Mr Gandapur was the provincial revenue minister in the first PTI government in KP and served as the minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet.

The PTI-backed candidates have secured the required majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly to form the government in the province – the third consecutive one by Imran Khan’s party.

They swept elections for national and provincial assembly seats in several districts, especially Chitral, Abbottabad, Swat, Charsadda, Swabi, Nowshera, Mohmand, Khyber, Mardan, and Bannu.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2024