By-polls improve electoral rating of Tehrik-e-Insaf in NWFP

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 By Delawar Jan

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) made its presence felt in the recent by-elections for the NWFP seats on account of its electoral performance. Despite losing, its candidates secured good number of votes and were among the top contestants in two provincial assembly constituencies. The party, led by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, was considered a weak contestant in the by-elections but it generally did well. Its electoral performance suggests rise in the party’s popularity in recent years. In Wednesday’s by-election in Lakki Marwat district on PF-75, PTI candidate Khan Bahadur bagged 4,730 votes and ended up as the runner-up. Losing to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s Naseer Muhammad Khan who got 12,712 votes, Khan Bahadur left several candidates behind. “Actually, our candidate contested against the nominee of several parties and groups in Lakki,” said the provincial chief of PTI Asad Qaiser. Khan Bahadur was not able to get the PTI election symbol and his name appeared as an independent candidate on the ballot paper. But PTI flags, banners and posters were prominently displayed during his election campaign. In PF-83 Swat, the PTI candidate Sher Khan obtained 3,825 votes and stood third. The Awami National Party’s Rahmat Ali Khan won this constituency by securing 7,518 votes. The PML-Q candidate Jalat Khan was placed second. Imran contested 1997 and 2002 general elections from Swat on NA-21 and NA-29 respectively. He secured 10,716 votes in 1997 from NA-21 and 6,060 in 2002 from NA-29. Many argue his popularity being a cricketer has played a role to enable him to obtain votes because at that time he was new in politics and people knew little about his politics and political vision. But the recent election suggests his party has some support in Swat as PTI’s Sher Khan got more votes than the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate and was very close to grab second position from PML-Q. Imran might have personality-vote appeal, but Sher Khan’s electoral performance proved that his party enjoys some support in Swat. The PTI has to go a long way to gain foothold in Hazara as the outcome of the recent by-polls in Mansehra showed. Contesting election on NA-21 Mansehra, the PTI candidate Niaz Muhammad Khan got 3,482 votes only. He was far behind other contenders and the party would have to work hard to build a vote-bank in Mansehra and rest of Hazara. “We fielded candidates in all the by-elections in NWFP unlike major parties like PPP, PML-N and ANP. By next general elections, PTI will emerge as one of the largest parties,” Asad Qaiser claimed. He said the major political parties had failed to provide leadership to the country to solve people’s problems and steer the country out of crises. “People see that leadership in Imran and also agree with his vision,” he added. Recent electoral performance of PTI, which boycotted the 2008 general elections, with unfamiliar political faces makes it a party that may not be considered out of equation. The party has only one prominent figure Imran Khan who due to his star status as a cricketer is well known. Launched in 1996, PTI’s slogan is justice, humanity and self-esteem. It is promising to bring sweeping reforms in judiciary and end the culture of corruption if voted into power. Many, however, think Imran’s coming into power is still a far cry as his party lacks organisational structure and nation-wide presence. Majority of people also say that PTI did not produce leaders during the last 14 years and would be unable to register victory. But Imran thinks differently and says that he wants to strengthen the party not personalities. “I want to get support from the masses on the basis of party’s vision so that they vote for the party and not for personalities. We will not search for the leaders but will make leaders from within the party,” Imran told his party workers in Peshawar a couple of months ago.