Hazara Division Elections 2024
The Hazara Division has never really been a big part of making federal governments because it only has seven National Assembly seats and a population of about 6.2 million people, of which about 3.4 million are registered to vote. Even so, it is a major front in the psychological battle that political parties fight before every general election.
Even more so this time, the Hazara Division is very important because Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PML-N, has picked NA-15 (Mansehra–II) as the starting point for his record-setting fourth attempt to become prime minister of the country.
The winds of approval seem to be blowing in Mr. Sharif’s way, but only time will tell if his goals will come true. The legal problems that were stopping him from becoming PM have almost all been taken care of, thanks to a state that is much friendlier now than it was in 2018.
His lifetime ban was lifted by a 6-1 vote on January 8, which made it possible for him to run for re-election. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, through Azam Khan Swati, tried to get Mr Sharif’s election papers thrown out, but Mr Swati’s efforts failed, and Mr Sharif’s candidature was supported in all the courts that heard the case.
This area was once thought to be a base for the “N” party, which could be why Nawaz decided to run from NA-15. However, the area famously saw a PTI wave in 2018, when the party won four NA seats.
Hazara Division and Elections 2018
People used to think that Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Battagram, Torghar, Kolai-Palas, Upper Kohistan, and Lower Kohistan, which are all in the Hazara region, were strongholds of the PML-N. It was won by the PTI in the 2018 election.
The PTI directly took three of the NA’s seven seats, and an independent candidate who also did well later joined the party. The PML-N got two seats, and the JUI-F, which is part of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), won one.
At the federal level, the area isn’t very useful, but it is much more important for making the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial assembly. With 18 seats spread out over eight districts, it is very important for making that assembly.
In the 2018 elections, KP switched back to the PTI, and its Hazara members were very important while it was in power. Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, from Hazara, was first tipped to become the PTI’s chief minister in KP, but the plan was shelved because of problems within the party. He was then chosen to be leader of the provincial assembly.
After the recent delimitations, the names of both national and provincial assembly places in the Hazara Division will be written in a totally different way for the 2024 general elections.
NA 12 Elections 2024
Afreen Khan from Kohistan district won in NA-11 (now NA-12) in the 2018 general election with 16,480 votes on an MMA (JUI-F) ticket. It was an independent named Dost Mohammad Shakar who came in second with 14,536, and a PPP member named Mehboobullah Jan who got 13,188 votes.
Many major political groups are running for office in this district, which includes Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan, and Kolai-Palas. The election is this year.
It looks like Malik Salahuddin will win because he is running on a JUI-F ticket. In the past, this seat has mostly been won by independents backed by regional groups or religious parties. Mehboobullah Jan from the PPP, Kareemdad from Pattan Kiyal Ittehad, and Malik Mohammad Idrees from Jalkot Qaumi Ittehad are some of the other candidates.
NA 13 Battagram
The NA-13 seat is completely covered by the Battagram district, which used to be thought of as the PML-N’s base. Prince Mohammad Nawaz Khan, the leader of the PTI, won this seat with 35,120 votes in the 2018 general election.
They got 24,307 votes, and Qari Mohammad Yusuf of the JUI-F came in second. Sardar Malik Jan of the PPP got 12,505 votes. For the election on February 8, both the PTI and the JUI-F have put forward the same names. For the spot, there will also be a race between Sardar Moin of the PML-N, Mufti Aman of Tehreek-i-Inqalab, Atta Mohammad Deshani of the Rah-i-Haq Party, and Saeed Ahmad Malkal of the Jamaat-i-Islami.
NA 14 Elections 2024
When someone works at a printing company in Peshawar, they make a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz poster on a T-shirt so that it can be used during election campaigns.—File from Reuters
In the 2018 general elections, Salah Mohammad Khan, an independent, beat Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf, who was running for PML-N, in Mansehra’s NA-14. Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf is the son of former federal minister Sardar Mohammad Yusuf. The race was very close. Salah, who later joined the PTI, got 108,950 votes, while Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf got 107,114 votes. Mohammad Baseer Khan of the JUI-F, on the other hand, got 19,814 votes.
After the events of May 9, Salah Mohammad left the PTI and became the central president of the newly formed PTI-Parliamentarians. Sardar Mohammad Yusuf will be running on a PML-N ticket in the February elections, but he will not be running from this seat.
In the meantime, the PTI put forward Mohammad Saleem Imran Swati, who is not well known in the area. Khan, who is the province general secretary of the PPP in KP and is backed by the JUI-F, is also running.
NA 15 Torghar and Mansehra
The 2018 general elections were won by the PML-N over the NA-15. Torghar and Mansehra-II. With 76,220 votes, Mohammad Sajjad, who is the older brother of Mohammad Safdar and Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law, was declared the winner. Zargul Khan, who was running as an independent at the time, got 59,918 votes, while Mufti Kifayatullah of the JUI-F got 45,798 votes.
This time, Mr. Sharif has switched places with Mr. Sajjad and will be running from this district. On a JUI-F ticket, Mr. Kifayatullah is also running, and this time, Zargul Khan will be running on a PPP ticket.
Shahzada Gustasab Khan, who used to be the opposition leader in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly, has been put forward by the PTI after Senator Azam Khan Swati’s papers were turned down by the returning officer.
NA 16 Elections 2024
The 2018 general election was held in Abbottabad (NA-16 and NA-17). With 96,643 votes, PML-N head Murtaza Javed Abbasi won FA-16. Ali Asghar Khan of the PTI came in second with 82,073 votes. Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob, a disgruntled member of the PTI, ran as an independent candidate to fight the party’s choice to give the ticket to Mr. Asghar. 39,325 people voted for him.
Mr. Abbasi is running again this year on a PML-N ticket, but Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, a PML-N rebel and former chief minister and governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is giving him a very tough time. Ali Asghar Khan, who ran for office with the PTI and came in second place in 2018, is one of the best candidates from this district.
NA 17 Abbottabad Election 2024
In 2018, Ali Khan Jadoon, the leader of the PTI, got 85,763 votes, which was enough to win NA-17 Abbottabad-II. On February 8, Mahabat Khan of the PML-N got 55,102 votes, and Sardar Ali Tanoli, an independent, got 12,689 votes. Mahabat Awan, Ali Khan Jadoon, Saleem Shah of the PPP, and Shaukat Tanoli, an independent who used to be the district nazim of Abbottabad, are all running from here for the following seats.
NA 18 Haripur Elections 2024
Haripur (NA-18): Omar Ayub Khan, Ayub Khan’s grandson, elected on a PTI ticket to win Haripur’s only NA seat, NA-18 Haripur, in the 2018 general election, taking up the family tradition. It was a close race; Babar Nawaz Khan of the PML-N got 133,158 votes, while he got 173,125.
This time, too, the winner and runner-up from the last election are both running for the same party. This time, Raja Amir, who was elected from the district in 2013, is supporting the PML-N. This is thought to give the party an edge in the race.
There are also Mohammad Ayub of the JUI-F, Ghazan Iqbal Tareen of the JI, and Ali Zawar Naqvi of the PPP running.
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