LAYYAH, Nov 28: Two political families of the district — Thinds and Jhakkars — have won the hearts of PML-Q leadership to get maximum number of party tickets while some of their members are already holding key administrative slots.

Shinning on the local horizon, sitting District Nazim Malik Ghulam Haider Thind is scion of the Thind-Sehar family. Nazim’s daughter Razia Begum is now PML-Q candidate for PP-266 while another son-in-law and former district nazim, Shahabuddin Khan Sehar, is now PML-Q candidate for PP-264.

Razia has been given ticket after dropping Mehar Fazal Sumra, who is former MPA and parliamentary secretary of the prisons department.

Shahabudin Sehar’s first cousin Sardar Bhadar Ahmad Khan Sehar has been awarded PML-Q ticket to contest for NA-181, Layyah-I.

Bhadar Sehar’s younger brother Sardar Sajad Ahmad Khan Sehar is already holding the Karor Lal Esan tehsil nazim’s slot.

The PML-Q has fielded Athar Maqbool to contest for PP-262 on the recommendation of Thind-Sehar family after ignoring former MPA Ch Altaf Hussain while former MPA Allah Bakhsh Santiah is again PML-Q candidate for PP-263 and that too on the instance of Thind’s family.

Similarly, former MNA Malik Niaz Ahmad Jhakhar has been given PML-Q ticket to contest for NA-182 while his brother-in-law, Noor Nabi Jhakkar, is PML-Q candidate for PP-265. Malik Iftikhar Ahmad Jhakhar, who is elder brother of Noor Nabi Jhakhar, is Layyah’s sitting tehsil nazim.

While commenting on the situation, Mahmood Nizami, a prominent political analyst of the district, said he was unable to ascertain the wisdom of PML-Q leadership’s decision to drop Mahar Fazal Hussain Sumra and Ch Altaf Hussain, who carried out development projects worth millions of rupees in their constituency.

Khalid Khan, another political analyst, said that Layyah had always been a city with live political conscious as Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah won her presidential elections from here in 1964. He said Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had selected comparatively weak candidates in this district which might affect its popularity in the district.

He said it was unfortunate that political families instead of political parties were occupying key slots on the political horizon.