KOHAT, March 17: Kohat is in the grip of election fever as many new and old candidates are flexing their muscles to contest the upcoming general polls from different constituencies in the district.

Several politicians have announced to contest election while several others have changed loyalties to get tickets of different political parties for taking part in the polls.

According to political observers, Pakistan People’s Party and religious parties are expected to win most of the seats in the district owing to alliances among independent candidates and local leaders of these parties.

They say that usually residents of Kohat and Hangu districts support religious parties. Society in Kohat and Hangu is conservative, they add.

However, analysts say that wealth, personalities and cast will play a decisive role in the upcoming elections in these two districts. Religious parties, especially Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F, have been wining seats in Kohat and Hangu since 1970 polls.

Late Maulana Naimatullah was elected MNA twice from NA-9 constituency when there was only one seat of National Assembly for Kohat, Hangu and Karak districts.

The observers view Seth Gohar Saifullah Khan and Ghulam Habib, who have joined JUI-F recently, as strong candidates.

Seth Gohar Saifullah Khan was district nazim while his father Seth Saifullah Khan was MPA of PPP.

Ghulam Habib, whose son Shaukat Habib was MPA of ANP, will contest the election himself this time owing to his rivalry with Amjid Khan Afridi, another aspirant.

Javed Ibraheem Paracha of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won the seat of National Assembly when Hangu was part of Kohat district.

Syed Qalbe Hassan, who has recently joined PPP, was also elected twice on a provincial assembly seat, KP-38, in 2002 and 2008 elections.

Observers predict that Awami National Party, which won most of the seats in Kohat in 2008, will hardly able to find suitable candidates for the upcoming elections.

In the absence of strong candidates of ANP, Syed Qalbe Hassan of PPP and independent candidate Amjid Afridi will emerge as strong contestants from KP-38 and from KP-37 respectively. Both of them left ANP after enjoying ministries.

However, Mr Hassan will be facing his maternal uncle and former chief justice of Peshawar High Court Syed Ibne Ali, who has joined ANP, in KP-38.

Analysts say that ANP could not come up to the expectations of voters despite remaining in power for five years in the province. The popularity of ANP has dropped although workers of the party rendered sacrifices during the last five years, they say.

Pir Dilawar Shah, who got elected MNA on ANP ticket in 2008, has also joined PPP along with the former food minister and also stuck an alliance with him at local level. It shows drop in popularity of ANP, analysts say.

Experienced politicians Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani and Eng Malik Asad have decided to contest election for the National Assembly seat in Kohat.

Mr Gillani has served as remained federal and state minister. He left PPP after remaining its active member for 23 long years.

Mr Asad left PPP after developing differences with former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in 2007 and contested the 2008 election as an independent candidate.