PTI picks Sohail Afridi, 3 others submit nomination papers for KP CM election
PESHAWAR: The PTI’s Sohail Afridi and three other opposition candidates on Sunday submitted their nomination papers to contest the chief minister election scheduled to be held during a session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly today (Monday), 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.
Afridi told the media 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”.
The PTI’s president in KP and MNA, Junaid Akbar, earlier posted on X that a consultative session was held at in the chambers of the provincial assembly’s speaker on Monday, ahead of the scheduled CM election.
Afridi was among the attendees of the meeting, during which electoral stages, preparations for Monday’s assembly session and the matter of contacting other assembly members were discussed, Akbar said.
Earlier, 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 it would speak with their leadership after consultations.
The PTI delegation also met Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Amir Muqam today, with Junaid stating that the delegation had come in the hope of making a joint decision “like in the past”, according to Katahna.
“We have to come together to solve the problems the country is going through,” Junaid said. “The PTI has a clear majority in the assembly, and KP cannot afford further issues or political instability at this time. We want to elect Sohail Afridi unopposed.” Muqam replied that he would consult federal leadership “as per the traditions of the province” and inform the delegation after his talks. Staff Report
