Independents trounce bigwigs in NWFP

PESHAWAR: In the NWFP districts of Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, and Kohistan, voters have elected the maximum number of independent candidates to the national and provincial assemblies.

Of the two national and six provincial assembly seats from Swabi district, one independent candidate, Engineer Usman Khan Tarakai, was elected to a national seat while two independents, Javed Iqbal Tarakai and Sardar Ali, were elected for two seats of the provincial assembly.

Situation in Swabi: In the NA-12 constituency, Usman Tarakai defeated Asfandyar Wali Khan, chief of the Awami National Party (ANP), while the two independent winners of PF-32 Swabi-II and PF-34 Swabi-IV defeated Amir Rehman and Amjad Ali Khan, also of the ANP. The remaining NA and PF seats were swept by the nationalists, against candidates from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao (PPP-S).

Independents in Kohistan: In Kohistan district, the single NA constituency of NA-23 was won by independent candidate Mehboobullah against his rivals from mainstream parties including the Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), while all the three provincial assembly seats were also taken by independents in this district.

The three independent winners include Maulana Obaidullah (PF-61), Mehmood Alam (PF-62), and Abdul Sattar (PF-63). Kohistan is the only district where none of the mainstream political parties were elected.

DI Khan: The situation in DI Khan is similar, as two independents were elected to the provincial assembly. Two of the five provincial assembly seats – those of PF-64 DI Khan-I and PF-68 DI Khan-V - were won by independent candidates Khalifa Abdul Qayum and Murid Kazim respectively, while the remaining three seats were grabbed by PML-Q and PPPP candidates.

Kohat: In Kohat too, two of the provincial assembly seats were won by independent candidates Malik Amjad Khan Afridi (PF-37) and Qalbe Hasan (PF-38). The third seat (PF-39) was won by an MMA candidate. Interestingly, the NA seat from this district was won by ANP candidate Pir Dilawar Shah.

Haripur: In Haripur district, three of the four constituencies were won by independents, while only one seat was taken by a party candidate. Former chief minister and provincial president of the PML-N Pir Sabir Shah is the only party candidate in Haripur who stood firm before the independents, who took PF-49, 50 and 51.

One seat in each of Karak and Hangu districts was won by independent candidates, while MMA candidates also won a single seat in each district. While the election for the PF-59 seat was postponed in Batagram, one of the remaining two seats was won by independent candidate Maulana Ubaidullah. The other was taken by the MMA’s Shah Hussain.

Among the four provincial assembly seats in Bannu, again two were grabbed by independents, while the MMA was victorious in the other two, as former NWFP chief minister Akram Durrani and his son Ziyad succeeded in the two seats of PF-73 and PF-70.

Two of the three provincial assembly seats were won by a single independent candidate Anwar Saifullah, while the third was grabbed by PML-N’s Anwar Kamal. In Shangla, one seat, PF-88, was won by an independent and the other by a PML-Q candidate.

The election was postponed in PF-81 Swat and PF-92 Upper Dir, but one independent candidate emerged successful in PF-93 in Upper Dir.

In Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Abbottabad, Tank, Bunair, Swat, Chitral, Dir Lower and Malakand, no independent candidate won the election, and the seats were mostly grabbed by candidates of the ANP, the PPPP or the MMA.