SWABI, July 10: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal is facing problems in working out seat adjustments with its component parties for the upcoming local council polls. Sources told Dawn on Sunday that the two major parties of Swabi — JUI-F and JI — were finding it difficult to accommodate each other’s candidates. Another party in the alliance, JUI-S, does not figure in the contest due to its poor standing in the district.
Insiders said that the Jamaat-i-Islami has been seeking the lion’s share claiming to have done a lot of campaigning for its candidates. But this has not stopped the JUI-F from demanding equal distribution of seats.
The sources said that the JI leaders still recalled with bitterness how the JUI-F refused to support its candidate Saeed Zada during the May 2004 by-election for the post of district nazim.
If the MMA does not put its own house in order soon, it may not be in a position to enter into an alliance with other parties, the sources said. Under the circumstances, the MMA adjustments may not be possible at the union council level with candidates from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Awami National Party against the ruling PML candidates.
In contrast, PPP Parliamentarians have already started negotiations with their counterparts from the PML-N and the ANP, the sources said. If these two major parties forge an alliance ahead of the polls, then the MMA candidates would face great difficulty.
Against this backdrop, the sources said, the MMA would be able to enter into an alliance only with the ruling PML – an eventuality that is likely to invite criticism from the opposition. Currently, there is widespread opposition to entering into a seat adjustment deal with the PML.
However, efforts are under way to strike a deal on contesting the local council elections from a joint platform.
In the previous local body election, JI candidate Haji Muhammad Amin was elected Nazim of Chota Lahor tehsil and it was in alliance with the ANP at the district level.
This time around it will be difficult for the JI to forge an alliance with the JUI-F because the deep rift between them over the 2004 by-election of the district nazim had not ended.