KOHAT, Dec 8: The haste with which political parties have had to select their candidates, due to the short time available for nominating them, has resulted in some intra-party tussles, leaving workers and voters confused about the ‘real’ candidates.

Many former lawmakers who were not allocated tickets, have jumped into the arena to fight against their own party nominees, both at the provincial and national levels, making the situation very interesting.

The allocation of tickets by JUI (F), PPP and ANP, without taking into confidence the district leadership of their respective parties, are likely to bring about some surprising election results.

In PF-37, two JUI (F) leaders filed their nominations and both wanted the party leadership to ask the other to withdraw the papers. When JUI (F) finally allocated the ticket to Maulana Mujeeb-ur-Rehman last Friday, the other leader, Fazal Raheem, did not accept the party decision and announced that he was an independent candidate against the party nominee.

Mr Fazal Raheem left ANP last year after he was promised by the JUI (F) leadership that he would be given the party ticket for the provincial assembly from the area in the next elections and, if he won, the portfolio of the provincial information minister.

The Pakistan People’s Party allocated the party ticket for NA-14 (Kohat) to former district nazim Malik Asad who joined the party a couple of weeks ago after meeting Ms Bhutto in Karachi after her arrival from Dubai.

Mr Asad requested Ms Bhutto to allocate the provincial assembly ticket for PF-38 to former MPA Syed Qalb-i-Hassan. Mr Hassan was expected to easily get between 6000 to 7000 votes from the constituency, but the PPP refused to nominate Mr Hassan as a candidate from area, saying he had been expelled from the ANP for allegedly selling his vote in the Senate elections, twice. Instead, the PPP, awarded its party ticket to Syed Ibn-i-Ali, a former chief justice of the Peshawar High Court and the maternal uncle of Mr Hassan.

The decision of the PPP leadership infuriated Mr Asad and in order to express his solidarity with Mr Hassan, he announced that he would not be a PPP candidate now and would fight the election as an independent candidate. Syed Ibn-i-Ali is also an independent candidate for the provincial assembly from the area.

Mr Asad recently hoisted a PPP flag on his house after joining the party. It is interesting to note that the wives of Mr Asad, Mr Farooq Ahmed Leghari, a former president, and PML-N Secretary-General Zafar Iqbal Jhagra are sisters and the three are key leaders of three different parties.

The decision of Mr Asad to fight the election as an independent candidate has left the PPP in the lurch. The party has now asked incumbent President of the Kohat Bar Association Abdur Rauf advocate to be its NA candidate from the constituency. But he is no match to millionaire Qalb-i-Hassan and billionaire Malik Asad as far as the money, arguably the sole criterion for any candidate for NA or PA seat in Pakistani politics, was concerned.

The JUI (F) also faces more or less a similar dilemma. The party nominated Maulana Abdul Hayee as its candidate for NA-14 and former MNA Mufti Abrar Sultan as a covering candidate, but the latter has filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate, declaring the party decision as unfair.

The PML (Q) has found no suitable candidate to field from the constituency. It reportedly asked District Nazim Seth Gohar Saifullah Khan Bangash to be its candidate, but he has refused to resign his post and contest the NA election because he was certain of his defeat. He, therefore, has decided to support Mr Asad for the NA constituency.

Former PML (N) MNA Javed Ibraheem Paracha, popularly known as Kohat’s Abbajee, has managed to get PML (N) tickets for his two nephews, who had looked after his business empire which had been raised during the period when former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister.

Mr Javed, who has been a staunch supporter of JUI (F) for 35 years, got the record votes on a PML (N) ticket from Kohat in the 1998 elections. He was, however, roundly beaten in the 2002 elections and got only 2700 votes. After the defeat in the elections, he formed World Prisoners’ Relief Committee to fight cases of Al Qaeda militants in the court of law.