Unlike his father, the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan, President of ANP, Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan has opted to contest from two NA constituencies in a bid to secure at least one seat in the January 2008 elections.
He is said to have bright chances in NA-7 Charsadda-I as the winner of 2002 elections from this constituency Maulana Gohar Shah of MMA has withdrawn from the contest due to seat adjustment with the PPP. In 2002 poll, the ANP failed to win even a single seat of National Assembly from all over the country and was outclassed by the MMA even in its strongholds such as Charsadda and Swabi districts.
Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan has filed nomination papers from his home constituency NA-7 Charsadda-I and NA-12 Swabi-I. The late Khan Abdul Wali said 'good bye' to politics after his first-ever defeat in his 50 years plus political career at his home district Charsadda at the hands of noted cleric Maulana Hassan Jan.
A dramatic situation has developed in NA-7 Charsadda-I, as the winner of the 2002 elections, a local cleric of madrassa Maulana Gohar Shah of MMA, who had the distinction of defeating Asfandyar Wali Khan, has withdrawn from the contest in favour of the PPP's candidate Naseer Muhammad Khan, a former District Nazim Charsadda and elder son of Federal Minister for housing and Works Nisar Muhammad Khan.
Maulana Gohar has withdrawn from the contest due to seat adjustment between the PPP and JUI(F) in Charsadda. Young Naseer Muhammad Khan had recently quit the PML and joined the PPP. A visit to the constituency by this scribe revealed that the trend of the voters had changed now and inclined more towards ANP again as the cleric who won from this area failed to come up to the expectations of his electorates.
Maulana Gohar of MMA had defeated Asfandyar Wali Khan by a margin of 24,553 votes in 2002 general elections as former had obtained 55,917 votes and later 31,364 votes.
The withdrawal from the contest by Maulana Gohar Shah will certainly benefit Asfandyar Wali Khan as the PPP nominee was new in the electoral battle. While the a dismal performance of the MMA has also improved chances of ANP to regain the seat in 2008.
On NA-12 Swabi-I, Asfandyar Wali Khan is facing Usman Khan Tarakai of Swabi Wal Group and uncle of district Nazim Swabi, Shahram Khan Tarakai. Muhammad Usman of Jamaat Islami (MMA) had defeated ANP's Shehryar Khan by a margin of 21,787 votes in 2002 polls.
As per the decision of the Jamaat Islami, Muhammad Usman, winner of 2002 polls may withdraw from the contest and it may benefit Asfandyar Wali Khan as the ANP candidates had won three out of six provincial seats in the previous elections from district Swabi, while two went to MMA and one to an independent candidate. The party workers and leader in fact wanted to see their party head in the NA instead of the Senate, commented an ANP leader.
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