SWABI, Sept 22: Though the district is considered to be a stronghold of the Awami National Party (ANP), the party’s dissidents, contesting general election, are likely to give a tough time to the party and a photo-finish was expected.

Before the delimitation of the constituencies there was only one National Assembly seat and four provincial assembly seats in the district. However, now there are two NA and six PA seats.

The track record of the ANP in Swabi says that in 1988 elections, the late Abdul Khaliq Khan of Mardan had contested from NA-8 Swabi and grabbed 40,257 votes, defeating Abdul Mastan Khan of the PPP, who got 33,604 votes .

In the 1990 general elections, ANP’s Haji Rehmanullah with a margin of 23,159 votes defeated Saleem Khan advocate of the Pakistan Democratic Alliance, who later became provincial general secretary of ANP but then joined the NAPP of Ajmal Khattak. Whereas Maulana Fazlullah of the JUI-F, who was backed by the PPP, Muslim League and other religious parties, inflicted a defeat on Mr Rehmanullah in the 1993 elections. Mr Fazlullah got 55,055 votes against the 49,349 votes of his opponent.

In 1997 Mr Rehmatullah was declared victorious by securing 39,828 votes against his opponent Iftikhar Ahmed of the PML-N, who received 36,589 ballots.

Three out of the four provincial seats from the district went to the ANP in the 1988 elections. Zain Mohammed from PF-24 Swabi- 1, Awal Sher Khan from PF-26 Swabi-111 and Abdul Majid Khan from PF-27 Swabi-IV were the ANP candidates who got seats in the provincial assembly, whereas only one seat PF-25 Swabi-11 went to Ghafoor Khan Jadoon of the IJI.

In 1990 the PF-24 and PF-26 seats went to the ANP. Mr Jadoon retained his position from the PF-25, whereas the PF-27 was grabbed by the incumbent District Nazim Sher Zaman Sher, who contested the election as an independent candidate and later joined the Muslim League.

In 1993 the ANP candidates, Dr Mohammed Salim from PF-24, Asmatullah from PF-26 and Abdul Majid Khan from PF-27 had won the election, while late Inayatullah defeated Ghafoor Khan Jadoon.

In 1997 election Dr Salim, Abdul Majid Khan, Asmatullah and Awal Sher Khan revolted against the ANP leadership and tendered resignations over awarding of the tickets and they contested as independent candidates but none of them could get a seat.

The ANP candidates Saleem Khan advocate and Mohammed Shuaib Khan advocate got the PF-24 and PF-26 seats, respectively, whereas Ghafoor Jadoon of the PML (N) was victorious from PF-25 and Sher Zaman Sher, who contested election again as independent candidate, had grabbed the PF-27 seat.

The present scenario in the district suggests a tough competition and an uneven ground for the ANP candidates. The NA- 12 Swabi-1, PF-32 Swabi-II and Swabi-III seats may fall into the lap of the ANP but the party’s candidates in PF-31 Swabi-I, PF-34 Swabi-V, PF-35 Swabi-IV and PF-36 Swabi-VI would witness a neck- and-neck competition.