PESHAWAR: The provincial capital did not see its traditional high-pitched electioneering despite having 1,693 million voters with five constituencies of National Assembly and 14 constituencies of the provincial assembly.

The overall campaigning for the 2018 general elections remained dull. Major political parties, except Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), did not organise rallies or public meetings in Peshawar to charge their voters for the polling day falling on July 25. The MMA, an electoral alliance of five religious parties, organised a public meeting on the outskirts of the city on June 25.

PTI that made a clean sweep in Peshawar in the previous general elections did not arrange a mega event to stimulate its voters or consolidate on its vote bank. The party, which ruled the province for five years, is contesting on five seats of the National Assembly and 14 seats of provincial assembly.

Central leaders of almost all parties fail to hold rallies in city

PTI chairman Imran Khan made whirlwind tours and addressed rallies in northern, central and southern districts of the province, but skipped Peshawar and its adjacent Nowshera district, the hometown of former chief minister Pervez Khattak, during the campaign. Nowshera has two National Assembly seats and five provincial assembly constituencies.

Interestingly, Imran Khan visited Bannu twice from where he is contesting against JUI-F stalwart Akram Khan Durrani on NA-35 to consolidate his position.

PTI provincial spokesperson Umair Mohammadzai told Dawn that Peshawar was in Imran’s electioneering schedule, but the rally was cancelled after the suicide attack on ANP leader Barrister Haroon Bilour in the city.

“The party had planned to organise a public meeting in the city on July 14, but it was postponed after assassination of Haroon Bilour,” he said. He said that people were mourning the killing of the ANP leader and PTI also cancelled its show. He added that Peshawar was excluded from the plan because of Imran’s tight schedule.

Haroon Bilour along with 20 workers of ANP was killed and around 30 others got injuries when suicide bomber attacked the party corner meeting in the city on July 10.

Insiders said that one of the major restraints for Imran to skip election rally in Peshawar was the under-construction Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that had turned the city into ruins. BRT is one the flagship projects of the previous PTI government that has been controversial.

They said that the multi-billion rupees BRT project, which was still far from completion, had become a nuisance for PTI, especially Imran Khan.

They said that delay in completion of the project and subsequent investigations by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) followed by directives of Peshawar High Court had caused further embarrassment for PTI.

One source said that Imran had never owned BRT project and reprimanded Pervez Khattak on many occasions. “Imran told Mr Khattak in a meeting that this (BRT) was his (Khattak’s) brainchild,” the source said.

On the other hand, other parties including PPP, ANP and PML-N did not hold major rallies or meetings in Peshawar to reach out to their voters.

PPP, PML-N and ANP had sufficient vote bank in Peshawar, despite that the leadership of these parties skipped the voters. PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif instead of addressing public meetings met media.

PPP had scheduled to organise election rally outside city, but Bilawal was cautioned by intelligence outfits to restrict his movement in the wake of suicide attack on the ANP meeting. He also postponed rally in Malakand district from where he is contesting election.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2018