Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, at this stage, is at number three according to an initial vote count in NA-7 Charsadda as Maulana Gohar Shah of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), who had defeated Asfandyar in 2002 elections as well with a clear margin of around 30000 votes, is on top while Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Fazl Muhammad Khan is currently on number two.

The ANP chief had won this seat easily in 2008. However, there was no JUI-F candidate fielded against him in the last elections. The JUI-F also has a history of defeating political heavy weight Khan Abdul Wali Khan on this seat as Maulana Hassan Jan had won it in 1990 with a huge margin of 14000 votes.

Also an interesting factor is that the ANP had only won this seat when there was no religious party candidate contesting against it. In 1998, Khan Abdul Wali Khan had won with a huge margin against Ihsanulalh of IJI while in 1993 Asfandyar Wali Khan had won with a meagre margin of less than 1000 votes against Major Mukhtar of PPP.

Opinion

Editorial

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