ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has started preparations and in-house consultations for the coming elections for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats in merged tribal districts, previously known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The terrorism-hit tribal districts have been merged with KP as part of a reforms package aimed at bringing them on a par with other parts of the country.

KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan visited the PTI’s Central Secretariat in Islamabad on Wednesday and discussed the coming elections with party’s Chief Organiser Saifullah Khan Nyazee.

Mehmood Khan was accompanied by his official spokesman Ajmal Wazir and KP Minister for Information Shoukat Yousufzai.

A spokesman for the party told Dawn that in the meeting, the chief minister also apprised PTI’s chief organiser about the reforms being undertaken by the provincial government in the health, education, agriculture, law and order, economic and social development sectors.

The spokesman said the criteria to select suitable candidates and guiding principles for the three-member parliamentary board that had already been constituted for the selection of candidates were also discussed in the meeting. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has determined and notified the share of tribal districts in the KP assembly’s seats.

The decision is in line with Article 106 of the Constitution amended through the 25th Amendment in May last year and last-minute promulgation of an ordinance to avert disenfranchisement of contiguous tribal regions.

According to the share determined by the ECP, Bajaur and Khyber will have three general seats each, Mohmand, Kurram, North Waziristan and South Waziristan will have two seats each and one seat will go to the Frontier Regions. Under the amended Article 106, the KP Assembly will have 145 seats, including 115 general, 26 reserved for women and four for minorities. Fata will have 21 seats, including 16 general, four for women’s and one reserved for non-Muslims.

Under the amendment, the elections for these seats were to be held within one year after the 2018 general elections.

An ECP official had said elections for 16 general seats of the KP Assembly would take place in May or June.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2019