PESHAWAR, Dec 7: All the political parties, which are still pressuring the authorities to make the Election Commission completely independent, have already launched full-blown election campaigns in the provincial capital.

An interesting competition is expected for the NA-4 (Peshawar-IV) constituency, with secretary-general of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, former federal minister and provincial president of PML (Q) Amir Muqam, former nazim of Peshawar and Pakistan People’s Party nominee Azam Khan Afridi, three-time MNA and Awami National Party nominee Arbab Mohammad Zahir and a former MNA of Jamaat-i-Islami Sabir Hussain Awan crossing swords.

In 2002, Sabir Hussain Awan of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had bagged 28,728 votes out of the 65,823 polled in the constituency. His rival and joint ANP-PPP candidate Arbab Mohammad Zahir Khan had managed to get 16,680 votes.

Three PML (N, Q and Z) candidates jointly polled 12,000 votes. According to the 2002 electoral roll, there are 222,276 registered votes in the constituency. Arbab Mohammad Zahir has won the seat three times.

The PPP and ANP are the main rivals, as they command the majority of the votes in the urban and rural parts of the city, respectively. However, in the last elections none of them managed to win a single National Assembly seat. Instead, the MMA won all the four seats.

The ANP suffered a crushing defeat owing to its ambiguous Afghan policy, according to analysts. The PPP had taken part in the electoral exercise half-heartedly because its central leadership had failed to come up with an election programme.

The MMA, which exploited the American invasion of Afghanistan and its election symbol well, bagged 26 to 30 per cent of the votes across the province. Its MNAs got between 25,000 and 27,000 votes while the MPAs polled 8,750 to 18,000 votes.

Of the 11 provincial assembly seats in Peshawar, it won eight. However, the total turnout was poor.

This time round, the PPP and ANP, which have already launched their campaigns, have fielded separate candidates. The ANP, which terms secularism as the main plank of its political philosophy, has held the extremist groups responsible for the ongoing social strife across the Fata and some ‘settled’ districts of the province.

“Only secularism is the viable solution to the prevailing ethnic and religious polarisation. If it is adopted as national policy, it can promote social cohesion and offer a sense of protection to the marginalised groups in society,” said ANP additional secretary general Haji Mohammad Adeel.

PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, who visited Peshawar earlier this month, is hoping that her party will bag at least 20 provincial assembly seats in the province. She came to kick off her party’s election campaign.

During her address to the party ticket-holders, she asked them to remain vigilant on the polling day, otherwise the ‘king’s party’ might ‘steal’ the elections.

She described the four pillars of the party manifesto, but didn’t use the word “socialism”. Instead, she said: “Musawat-i-Muhammadi is our economy”.

Both main factions of the PML are also in the race, but they have so far failed to mobilise the people in their favour. If elections are delayed, however, the PML (N) may be in a position to benefit from the emerging realities, according to analysts.