LANDI KOTAL, Sept 23: As the polling day for the national assembly elections is drawing nearer, electioneering in the twin constituencies of Khyber Agency is gaining momentum with each passing day.
Both the seats — NA-45 and NA-46 — have 12 candidates vying with each other. Almost all the major political parties have fielded their candidates.
The tribal voters will vote under the adult franchise rule only for the second time as before the Feb 1997 general elections, only tribal Maliks and elders (all male) were eligible to cast votes.
The graduation condition for contesting the general elections had sidelined a number of seasoned and habitual candidates from the electoral contest. Most candidates, now in the fray, are young.
From the NA-45, out of the 12 candidates, only Noor ul Haq Qadri is an old face, while all the rest are new faces. Qadri lost the 1997 elections to Latif Afridi by a narrow margin.
The NA-46 constituency, Bara, has all new faces, although they have the backing of former MNAs and senators and leaders of various political parties.
With the modus operandi changed for voting in the tribal areas, candidates have also changed their campaign strategy and they are now concentrating more on a door-to-door campaign to reach out to the maximum number of voters.
Prior to the 1997 election, selling of votes by tribal maliks and elders was very common and candidates had little difficulty approaching maliks and elders.
Khyber Agency then had little over 4,000 voters. But now NA-45 have a total of 91,361 eligible voters. In NA-46, the eligible voters number 80,422.
Allegations of vote buying were levelled by a number of candidates, but so far no solid proof has been provided to the EC or the press.
Meanwhile, Landi Kotal, Bara and Jamrud bazaars give a festive look as contesting candidates have decorated their respective election offices with colourful posters, flags and banners.
Young political workers are more enthusiastic as most of them will be exercising their right to vote for the first time.
Oblivious to the electoral process, however, are the tribal elders and maliks whose chances of selling their votes have almost diminished.
Also at the disadvantage are the tribal women whose fate to vote in the coming election was yet to be decided.
Most of the candidates are in a fix whether or not to give their consent to women’s voting as they apprehend rigging in the female polling stations and also because of certain taboos on women in the tribal society.
The EC requirement of producing national identity card at the time of polling has also made it impossible for more than 75 per cent women voters to cast their vote as they do not possess national identity cards.