The PTI’s Sohail Afridi on Sunday submitted his papers to contest the chief minister elections due to be held during a session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly tomorrow, according to the assembly’s secretary.
Afridi, a member of the provincial assembly hailing from Bara, was nominated for the office by party founder Imran Khan after sitting KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur announced his resignation earlier this week. This has prompted an election to decide KP’s next chief executive.
Secretary Syed Muhammad Mahir told reporters that Afridi’s papers, as well as those of the three opposition candidates — contesting on behalf of the PPP, PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) — have been received and approved.
“The nomination papers of the PTI’s Sohail Afridi have been approved,” he said. “The papers of Arbab Zarq of the People’s Party, Sardar Jahan of the PML-N and Maulana Lutfur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F have also been approved for the Chief Minister’s post.”
A video shared by the PTI on X showed Afridi signing documents, with the caption reading that he has submitted his papers to contest the CM elections.
When asked by a Dawn.com correspondent about federal ministers’ allegations that he was in contact with proscribed organisations, Afridi told Dawn.com that the Centre has “declared we are all banned groups, we are all terrorists and they have filed all of the FIRs (first information reports) against us”.
Meanwhile, a delegation of candidates called on the Awami National Party (ANP) at their Bacha Khan Markaz headquarters in Peshawar.
The delegation was led by PTI Provincial President Junaid Akbar Khan and comprised Sher Ali Arbab, Ali Khan Jadoon, Shaukat Yousafzai, Malik Adeel Iqbal, Irfan Saleem and other leaders, according to PTI Deputy Information Secretary and social media head Ikram Katahna, who was also part of the delegation.
“A democratic process is going to take place tomorrow, for which we are contacting democratic people,” Junaid said. “The PTI has a numerical majority in KP. We want to elect Sohail Afridi unopposed to stop undemocratic characters.”
ANP KP President Mian Iftikhar Hussain, in response, said that the party would “not be a part of any unconstitutional and undemocratic process” and that they would speak with their leadership after consultations.
Outgoing CM Gandapur resigned his seat over party founder Imran’s concerns regarding a spike in terrorism in the province.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja on Wednesday confirmed Gandapur’s resignation during a media briefing, stating that the decision was made by Imran, who he said told him about the “background of this in detail and also ordered me to put this before you”.
He pointed out that the PTI had a “clear majority” in the KP Assembly through which Afridi would be elected as the next chief minister.
Raja also quoted Imran as raising concerns over the spike in terrorism in PTI-ruled KP.
He said: “There is the worst terrorism situation in KP. There have been record incidents this year […] the lives lost and martyrdoms so far, there is no example found of this.”
“Khan sahib is very sad, the incident that happened in Orakzai, Khan sahib said there is no choice for him now, but to make the change [in KP CM].”
More to follow.
