Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Asad Umar has bright chances to win NA-54 seat owing to the ongoing unrest among Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz PML-N candidates including Anjum Aqeel Khan and Ch. Ashraf Gujjar. Sources started that PML-N candidate Anjum Aqeel Khan was facing difficulties to draw the attention of voters toward party because of ongoing disputes within the party.
On the other hand highly qualified candidate of PTI Asad Umar was holding corner meetings and held door to door contact campaign in order to convince voters for PTI support.
NA-54 constituency has consists of Federal Capital areas as before the 2002 this constituency called NA-35 and in 2002 it given new name NA-48 Islamabad 1 and now in last delimitation it renamed as NA-54 Islamabad 3.
In 1990 election then IJI candidate Haji Nawaz Khokhar won the seat as he took 76795 votes. Mian Muhammad Aslam, the JI candidate had won from the NA-48 constituency during the 2002 election, has pulled out of the race. Mian Aslam did not take part in the 2008 general elections due to his party’s boycott but he had contested the general elections of 2013.
In the 2008 elections, Anjum Aqeel won the seat on the ticket of the PML-N by bagging 61,480 votes. In 2011, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) nominated him as the main accused in a Rs6 billion land fraud case which is still pending adjudication in the special court of Islamabad. The Supreme Court took a suo motu notice of the case in 2011 and remanded the matter to the FIA special court. In 2008 the PPP candidate Israr Shah secured 2nd potion by taking 24418 votes.
In 2013 PTI then central president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi won the National Assembly seat NA-48 in Islamabad but later he left the seat. As many as 22 candidates had participated in 2013 by election in NA 48 constituency. Asad Umar PTI has won the election by receiving 48073 votes by defeating Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraf Gujjar PML N got 41186 votes, Faisal Sakhi Butt PPP got — votes and other candidates of NA-48.
History tells us that this constituency has never been a stronghold of any political party. The PML-N, the PPP, and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) candidates have all won this seat in the past.
However, in the parliamentary elections held on May 11, the PTI candidate won the seat by securing 73,878 votes against PML-N candidate Anjum Aqeel Khan’s 52,205. Hashmi later stood down from this seat while retaining his native seat of Multan.
This time Asad Umar has been awarded the PTI ticket for this constituency. The majority of the people in the constituency belong to the educated class and that was one of the reasons that the PTI won this seat. However, interestingly, the party also got sizeable number of votes from the rural areas of the constituency.
