PESHAWAR: Keeping in view the results of last three general elections in Mardan, three political parties grabbed most of the three National Assembly and eight provincial assembly seats in the district.
The six-party religious alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), had emerged victorious in the 2002 general election while Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had won the 2008 general election. ANP’s Ameer Haider Hoti went on to become the chief minister.
Rahimdad Khan of the PPP was made senior minister.
In the 2013 general election, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won two National Assembly and five provincial assembly seats. The ANP got one National Assembly and two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats.
For the July 2018 general election, the ANP and PTI have already announced their candidates for National Assembly and provincial assembly seats. The MMA, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and PPP have yet to award tickets to their candidates.
The major components of MMA, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have proposed their potential candidates but the central leadership of the alliance has not yet issued the final list of contestants.
Former chief minister and provincial president of the ANP Ameer Haider Hoti, Malik Aman Khan and Gul Nawaz Khan would contest for three National Assembly seats from Mardan. The ANP candidates for the provincial assembly include the incumbent District Nazim and former MNA Himayatullah Mayar, Farooq Akram Khan, Sher Afgan Khan, Ali Khan and Shahrukh Aman.
Khwaja Mohammad Khan and his son Farooq Khan, Nawabzada Aurangzeb Khan, Rahimdad Khan and widow of former speaker Abdul Akbar Khan are the main candidates of PPP in Mardan.
The PTI has also announced its candidates for two National Assembly and seven provincial assembly seats in Mardan. Former provincial minister Mohammad Atif Khan would face ANP’s Ameer Haider Khan Hoti in NA-23 and PPP’s Khwaja Mohammad Hoti in PK-50.
The PTI has dropped its former MNA Ali Mohammad Khan and Iftikhar Mohmand, Alam Khan and Shuaib Khan have been eyeing the party ticket for the National Assembly seat. Iftikhar Mohmand had reportedly been given the ticket.
The PML-N is likely to award ticket to former MPA Jamshed Mohmand to contest from both National Assembly and provincial assembly.
PML-N’s Senator Delawar Khan’s son Adnan Khan and Khan Akbar Afridi from Mardan city are also expected to get the PML-N tickets even though Adnan Khan until now was being mentioned as an independent candidate.
The MMA is likely to distribute tickets as per results of 2002 general election in which the JUI-F’s Maulana Shujaul Mulk and Maulana Mohammad Qasim had won the National Assembly seats while the third seat was won by JI’s Maulana Attaur Rehman.
Out of eight provincial assembly constituencies in Mardan, the JUI-F had secured five seats and the JI two. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S)’s Ikramullah Shahid was elected to the eighth provincial assembly seat from the MMA platform.
The JUI-S is no more part of the MMA and the JUI-F is keen to propose its candidate for the seat won by JUI-S in 2002.
Besides the candidates of the political parties, a number of wealthy and influential persons would contest in independent capacity as most of them couldn’t get tickets from parties.
