PESHAWAR: The results of the General Election 2024 have surprised everyone because many major political parties from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received crushing defeats even in their ancestral citadels causing disappointment in their workers.
Not a single political party but most of them including Awami National Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam- Fazal, Qaumi Watan Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party have to re-evaluate their position.
JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman contested the general election from his home constituency (NA-44) Dera Ismail Khan but lost the election to his arch rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed independent candidate Ali Amin Gandapur.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also lost the election to PTI candidate Ali Amin Gandapur in the 2018 general election.
According to the JUI-F provincial spokesman Maulana Abdul Jalil Jan, in 2018, JUI-F had 12 members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly but as result of the 2024 elections it has got only six PK seats and one national assembly seat of Noor Alam Khan from Peshawar.
The spokesman described it as a setback to the party as it expected at least 30 plus provincial assembly seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “We have convened an emergency meeting of our executive committee to review the situation.
Similarly, ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan contested the election from NA -25 (Charsadda-II constituency) but lost the election to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed independent candidate Fazal Muhammad Khan.
ANP’s central president Asfandyar Wali Khan did not contest the election; however, the party’s central senior vice president and former chief minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti contested from NA-22 Mardan and PK-58 mardan but lost the election to PTI backed Muhammad Attif Khan and Abdul Salam respectively.
Admitting his defeat, Hoti resigned from his party office as senior vice president (SVP). He said he took the decision in light of the public opinion.
ANP’s provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak have always won his constituency from 2008, 2013 and 2018 but lost the Feb 2024 election.
Likewise, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Siraj ul Haq contested the election from NA-6 Dir Lower but lost the election to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed independent candidate Muhammad Bashir Khan. JI has won two provincial assembly seats from Bajaur (tribal) district.
The JI also faced a crushing defeat in its previously stronghold Dir lower and Dir upper. In the past it always won a maximum of the national and provincial assembly constituencies from parts of Malakand division.
In 2018, the JI’s Inayatullah Khan had won election from a provincial assembly constituency of Dir upper and Siraj Ahmad from Bajuar (tribal) districts from Muttahida Majlis Amal platform.
JI’s Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitral had also become MNA from Chitral on an MMA ticket. Inayat ullah Khan had won the election from his provincial assembly constituency in 2002 and in 2008 he did not contest the election as his party had boycotted the election. However, he won the election in 2013 and again in 2018.
Qaumi Watan Party also failed to win even a single seat in the national and provincial assembly as well. The party central chairman Aftab Ahmad Khan contested the election from NA-24 Charsadda-I but lost it to his rival candidate Maulana Gohar Ali Shah of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl. QWP’s provincial chairman Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao also lost the election.
The Pakistan People’s Party has won four provincial assembly seats. It also won two national assembly seats one each from Dera Ismail Khan and Kurram tribal districts. However, the party’s provincial president Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha lost the election.
PPP has marginally improved its position as in 2018 it had only one national assembly member Sajid Khan Toori from Kurram tribal district. He again won his seat in the Feb 8 general election.
This party has also won another NA seat from Dera Ismail Khan.
The defeat of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif from NA-15 Mansehra-cum-Torghar to PTI backed Prince Muhammad also disappointed its workers. A party office-bearer said that PML-N leadership did not expect to lose the election from Mansehra.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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