JUI-F candidate facing multiple challenges to retain NA-10

MARDAN: Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) provincial General Secretary and former Member National Assembly (MNA) Maulana Mohammad Qasim is facing challenge from his rivals, including Farooq Akram Khan of Awami National Party (ANP) and Nawabzada Abdul Qadir Khan of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to reain his National Assembly seat NA-10 Mardan.
A strong contest is expected among the JUI-F, ANP and PPP though the candidates of other parties, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are also hopeful of victory. The NA-10 has been won in recent polls by the JUI-F candidates. Late Maulana Ahmed, father of Maulana Mohammad Qasim, who runs a madrassa in the area, won this seat.
After his death Maulana Qasim has twice won this seat. However ANP and PPP also have a solid vote bank in the constituency. According to the results of the 2008 general election, Maulana Qasim polled 29,279 votes, PPP’s Nawabzada Abdul Qadir Khan remained runner-up with 23,138 votes while ANP candidate Mohammad Farooq Akram Khan got 21,115 votes.
The JUI-F is utilising all the resources to win the seat as it has become a matter of prestige for the party, but ANP and PPP are leaving no stone unturned to defeat it. Farooq Akram Khan, who is also district president of ANP, undertook a lot of development work in this constituency in the last five years and apparently increased the party’s vote bank.
ANP office-bearers and workers claimed that votes of religious parties would be divided in the upcoming election and the ANP candidate would benefit from the situation. The PPP office-bearers and workers are also hopeful of winning as they asserted that their party had carried out uplift work in this constituency. The NA-10 has three provincial assembly constituencies i.e. PK-26, PK-27 and PK-28. On PK-26 tough contest is expected among PPP candidate Sher Afghan Khan, ANP’s Malik Ijaz and PML-N’s Iftikhar Khan Mohmand, though the candidate of other parties, including JUI-F, PTI and JI are also in the run. Sher Afghan Khan of PPP had won the seat in 2008 election.
In PK 27, interesting contest is expected among PPP candidate Asad Khan, son of former senior minister Rahimdad Khan, and ANP’s Bahadur Khan. The candidates of JUI-F, JI, PML-N and PTI are also running for the seat.
A tough fight is expected between ANP candidate Gohar Ali Shah, JUI-F’s Hafiz Akhtar Ali who remained provincial minister of irrigation in Akram Khan Durrani’s cabinet, PML-N’s Sikandar Hayat and PTI’s Omar Khattab in PK-28. Though former provincial minister Hafiz Akhtar Ali has twice won this seat, he is facing strong challenge in the polls.