TIMERGARA, Jan 17: The candidates of different political parties contesting the upcoming elections for NA-34 Dir Lower have said that the postponement of elections would endanger the future of the state.

ANP candidate Muhammad Ayub Khan told Dawn on Thursday that the contestants have spent millions of rupees on their election campaign so far and if elections were postponed further, they would not be able to contest.

PPP candidate from NA-34 Malik Azmat Khan rejected the demand of Nawaz Sharif of forming a national government before elections. Talking to Dawn on Thursday, he said that PPP was the victim party but it wanted elections to be held on schedule. He wondered why the government was not looking interested in holding elections on time.

JUI-F candidate Qazi Fazalullah also opposed the postponement of elections and demanded of the government to hold elections rightly on Feb 18, adding that his party would strongly resist if the elections were postponed any further.

The candidates were of the opinion that they had restarted their election campaign after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27 and said that that further postponement would lead towards chaos. They said that the people would stand against this decision. They also alleged that flour crisis, power loadshedding and low gas pressure were all created deliberately by the government.