PPP faces defeat in KP LG polls

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) faced defeat in the second phase of the local bodies’ elections in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on March 31.

According to unofficial results, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 32 seats, independents 12, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) seven, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) five, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz four, Awami National Party (ANP) three while the PPP could grab only one seat.

For the PPP, the results of the second phase of the local bodies’ election is not different from that of the first phase, wherein it remained at the bottom in terms of seats. This time, too, the central and provincial leaders of the party faced defeat at their home constituencies.

In their separate chats with The News, the workers and provincial leaders accused the central leadership of being responsible for the prevailing state of affairs, saying they should probe as to how the party tickets were distributed.

The leadership should also probe as to why the party was left at the mercy of ‘Facebook warriors’ and whether such leaders had any influence in their respective districts, tehsils and constituencies, the workers asked.

The former and sitting provincial presidents including Humayun Khan and Najmuddin Khan, who hail from Malakand, have lost all seats in their respective areas. Former minister Bakht Baidar Khan, Senior Vice President Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha could not succeed at his home constituency.

PPP divisional president Akram Khan also failed to win a single seat out of the seven tehsils in Swat. The PPP candidates faced a crushing defeat in Chitral. The same is the case in Shangla, where the party candidates led by Dr Afsarul Mulk faced a humiliating defeat. PPP general secretary Shazi Khan lost all seats in Mansehra and Haripur and the workers observed that the security of their candidates was confiscated. The workers deplored that Shazi Khan also remained out of their districts like those of other provincial leaders.

The infuriated workers recalled that the PPP lost all seats in the merged districts including Mohmand, Kurram, where Bilawal Bhutto had also addressed a meeting. The same is the party’s position in South and North Waziristan, Orakzai, where their nominees remained at the bottom. The workers deplored that none of their provincial leader and office-bearers conducted election campaign for their party and the leadership should investigate the causes of the defeat. The results of Lower and Upper Dir were not different from other districts.

The results of the first and second phase of the local bodies’ elections should be serve as an eye-opener for the leadership if they are interested in reorganizing the party, the angry workers said.

The leadership, they said, did not consult workers and made changes in provincial setup on the recommendations of a few individuals, who had no influence in their respective districts and tehsils.

Instead of trusting ‘Facebook mafia’, they said the leadership should have consulted true and dedicated workers. In the first phase, they said the central leaders including Faisal Karim Kundi, who remained deputy speaker of National Assembly could not win his tehsil.

The same was the case with senior leader, who remained provincial minister, Sher Azam Wazir, Anwar Saifullah Khan, Arbab Alamgir Khan, Syed Zahir Ali Shah could not win at their respective districts and tehsils.