Peshawar:
As many as four candidates have presented their nomination papers for the election of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister to be held on Monday.
The Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) Has Fielded Sohail Afridi, While Three Opposition Candidates-Maulana Lutfur Rehman of Jamiat Urvili-e-Islam (Jui-F), Sardar Shah Jehan of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Arbab Zarak of Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan Pakista (PPP) – HAVE ALSO ENTERED THE RACE.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly session is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. 10 Monday to elect the new chief minister after the resignation of Sardar Ali Amin Gandapur. The nomination process was completed on Sunday.
Accompanied by speaker Babar Saleem Swati, Vice President Surayya Bibi and other government members, submitted Afridi two sets of nomination papers to the assembly secretary.
On the opposition side, the three candidates together filed their nomination papers, accompanied by former chief minister Akram Khan Durrani and other opposition legislators. The deadline for submitting nomination papers was set at 1 p.m. 15 Sunday. After checking the speaker, all four nomination papers were declared valid.
According to assembly sources, candidates can withdraw their nominations before the start of Monday’s session. Opposition sources indicated that Maulana Lutfur Rehman could emerge as the joint opposition candidate, although Sardar Shah Jehan’s name is also under consideration.
The opposition parties are expected to end their joint candidate at a meeting before the session.
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PTIS nominated for KP Chief Minister Office, Sohail Afridi, began his political journey in 2007 as a member of the Insaf Students Federation (ISF), the party’s student’s wing. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Peshawar.
Afridi also served as a Provincial Minister of Higher Education in the Cabinet for Outgoing CM Gandapur and was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) from PK-70, District Khyber, at the February 8th election.
He belongs to Shalobar Qambar Khel stem in the Khyber District and is known within PTI as a young leader with strong party connections and influence.
Throughout his political career, Afridi has had several key positions within PTI. As a student he was among the basic members of the ISF, and in 2012 he was elected president of the ISF Peshawar district. Two years later, in 2014, he became president of ISF Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Afridi ended his BS (Honor) in Economics from the University of Peshawar in 2012 and began his Mphil in Economics in 2014. However, he could not end the degree because of his active participation in PTI’s 126-day sit-in in Islamabad. Later he successfully completed his course and defended his dissertation.
Afridi rose steadily through PTI’s youth ranks, Afridi was elected President of the Insaf Youth Wing for the Peshawar region in 2019, and later President of Insaf Youth Wing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2022, a position he still has.
Maulana Lutfur Rehman is the brother of Jui-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. He served as leader of the opposition in the previous Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly.
Although the opposition parties have submitted the nomination papers in three candidates together, Lutfur Rehman appears to be the strongest competitor, while the other two candidates are likely to retire from the race before the start of the assembly session.
Latest party position in the KP assembly
The KP assembly consists of 145 members, while the composition shows a clear dominance of independent members supported by PTI and places the party to win the gap of the head of the house with ease.
According to the latest figures, 92 independent members, in line with PTI, make up the largest block in the assembly. Among political parties, Jui-F and PML-N have 18 seats each.
Pakistani Peoples Party parliamentarians have 10 members, while the Awami National Party has four seats. Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf parliamentarians, a brand group, occupy three seats.
