ho are you voting for?” “Imran Khan” is the swift retort from a septuagenarian, Hukam Khan, a resident of Mingora in Swat district. “But why? The prices of food and other household items have been sky rocketing?” A cynical smirk appears on the age-hardened visage. “For the first time we have a man in office that has stood up against the atrocities of the United States. Food and fuel are routine matters. We have the hero we need.”

There is little to no doubt that the anti-US narrative centring on an alleged letter to oust Imran Khan’s government has mustered him popular support in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The narrative of an international conspiracy has so far worked in Khan’s favour. Its impact was visible in the recently held local government elections across 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

After being defeated by the Jamiat-i-Ulema Islam Fazl (JUI-F) in the first phase of the local government elections, the ruling party has staged a come-back. Maulana Fazl ur Rehman has been a constant in Pakistani politics. He is a hardcore critic of Imran Khan. His continuous campaign against Khan and the establishment gave him the political space creating a narrative that breathed a new life into the JUI-F. This culminated in the party’s victory in which it secured 23 tehsils out of 66 and secured the mayor’s seat in Peshawar. The ruling PTI stood second with 18 seats.

But in the second phase of these elections, the trends in 65 tehsils suggest that the PTI is well ahead of any other party. Unofficial results suggest that the PTI has secured at least 25 tehsils with a lead in seven more tehsils. Official results are still being compiled. The JUI-F stands second with nine secured tehsils and is waiting for results in the remaining tehsils.

Not one to miss out, Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken to Twitter and congratulated the KP chief minister. “The people of KP have emphatically rejected the traitors who sold out to foreign masters,” he wrote. “This is an early warning to all traitors of what awaits them in their constituencies,” Khan concluded.

Mufti Kifayatullah, a JUI-F senior leader, says that “powerful people” did not show their “neutrality” in the second phase of the elections. “Had the elections been held in one go, then we (JUIF) would have won with a greater majority in the entire province,” says the cleric. He cites Khan’s public appearance as an additional factor in influencing public opinion in violation of the Election Commission’s code of conduct.

Independent observers suggest that the JUI-F and other political parties made a sacrifice by concentrating on bringing down the PTI government in the Centre rather than focusing their energies elsewhere. However, an independent comparison of PTI’s popularity graph indicates that after Imran Khan’s address to the nation and the special reference to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal districts in reference to terrorism and drone strikes, the impact has been enormous and in Khan’s favour.

Barrister Dr Muhammad Ali Saif, special assistant to KP chief minister for information, says that the no-trust resolution actually helped them in the local polls.

“We have gotten back the support of the public. I believe that the anti-American narrative and the no-confidence motion cannot be looked at in isolation. This appealed to the public in a way that they believe they must vote for Khan once again. Other than that, our strategy of allotting party tickets was also different this time,” Saif tells The News on Sunday.

Governor Shah Farman tells TNS that the dimensions of politics have changed. He says that traditional ways of garnering public support are now outdated. “We did not get a favourable result in the first phase of the elections because we did not get enough time,” he says. “But this time we strategically placed our candidates and carried out a proper campaign, the results of which speak for themselves.”

The PTI has managed to rebuild itself at the grassroots level. Much of the effort has been guided by Pervez Khattak, a seasoned politician famous for bringing scattered support together. He was handed the task of regrouping party stalwarts and awarding tickets after the PTI fell into a blame game following a crushing defeat in the first phase of the elections.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have done poorly in the polls even in the areas known as their strongholds. Provincial chiefs of the PPP and PML-N, Najmudin Khan and Amir Muqam, both lost their tehsils to the PTI. Jamat-i-Islami’s fate has been no different. Its emir, Siraj ul Haq, also faced defeat in his constituency at the hands of the PTI.

Leaders and workers of these parties insist that the local government election outcomes are not a good predictor of general election results. The argument is that grassroots politics has a different dynamic making tribes, culture and other socio-economic factors more relevant. However, considering PTI’s come back in the second phase and the public sentiment based on the narrative coming from Imran Khan, even if the reasons given by the opposition parties are to be believed, it does not change the fact that Khan’s narrative has sold.

The writer is a freelance journalist and a former editor