PESHAWAR: Campaign for local bodies’ polls in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is full swing and besides holding public meetings, the candidates and political parties are also running door-to-door campaign to muster support for themselves. The polling is scheduled on 19th.

As polling day is coming closer, election campaign in Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Khyber, Mohmand, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Tank, Haripur, Buner and Bajaur districts are heating up where candidates are addressing public gatherings and corner meetings besides door to door campaign to woo the voters and inform them about their election manifesto.

All eyes are on Peshawar’s metropolitan mayor seat where PTI, PPP, JUIF, ANP and Jammat-e-Islami have fielded mostly the kind of political heavyweights and party leaders to clinch the coveted slot for their party.

The ruling PTI has fielded Rizwan Bangash while PPP has awarded ticket to Zarak Khan, a scion of the Arbab family. He is the grand-son of the late KP Chief Minister Arbab Mohammad Jehangir Khan Khalil son of former federal minister for Communication, Arbab Alamgir Khan Khalil and Asma Arbab.

JUI-F has fielded Zubair Ali, the son of former Senator Haji Ghulam Ali, who is also the son-in-law of the PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. PML-N and Qoumi Watan Party (QWP) of the Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao are also supporting the JUI-F candidate.

Arbab Zarak Khan, who is fielded by PPP has a strong Baradari and can surprise many due to the sufficient vote bank of his party in the Peshawar City. Sher Rehman, an ANP loyalist, is mainly concentrating on the nationalist’s votes and started addressing public gatherings to woo voters ahead of the D-Day.

Behrullah Khan Advocate has been fielded by Jamaat-e- Islami due to his long services and loyalty for the party. Political observers believed that fielding of separate candidates by JUI-F and JI were likely to split religious votes that may benefit others candidates.

These political heavyweights are among 125 candidates filed nomination papers for mayor and chairman seats of different tehsils out of which 49 candidates have withdrawn their nomination papers and now 76 are left in the electoral race.

A total of 37,752 candidates are in run for different seats including mayor, chairman, general councilor, youth, labour, farmers, minority and woman in the first phase of the local bodies’ election. As many as 1,006 candidates submitted nomination papers for seats of chairman and mayor of tehsil councils in these 17 districts out of whom nomination papers of 977 candidates approved 29 rejected, 284 withdrawn and now only 689 are left in the electoral race.

Similarly, 19,282 candidates are contesting for the seats of general councilor in 20,648 village and neighborhood councils in these districts where nomination papers of 20,648 candidates approved, 1,140 rejected and 1,599 withdrawn after 21,788 nomination papers were submitted for general councilors.

For women seats, nomination papers of 3,943 candidates accepted, 277 rejected and 151 withdrawn against 4,220 submitted nomination papers and now 3,905 candidates are contesting.

Out of a total 8,078 submitted nomination papers for seats of farmers and labourers, as many as 7,513 candidates are flexing muscle after rejection of nomination papers of 419 candidates and withdrawal of 322 candidates and approval of 7,659.

As many as 6,804 candidates filed nomination papers out of which 6161 accepted, 643 rejected and 180 withdrawn. Likewise, 328 candidates submitted nomination papers for the minority seats out of which nomination papers of 292 candidates accepted, 36 were rejected, and eight withdrawn and now 282 candidates are engaged in electoral battle heating up with each passing day. Great hustle and bustle and political mobilization is being witnessed in these districts where candidates are participating in almost every activity from funeral to wedding and engagement to settling local disputes in a bid to muster voters’ support. Even so, the candidates started visiting local courts with litigants and public offices, who may be their potential voters, to help them sort out matters at earliest. Great enthusiasm is being witnessed among young voters for local bodies’ elections. Billboards and posters printing business shined in KP where printers were earning substantial revenue due to overwhelming orders placed by the candidates.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021