Ashrafuddin Pirzada
PESHAWAR: Awami National Party (ANP) central senior vice president and vocal parliamentarian Haider Hoti on Friday said that he accepted his defeat in the elections in Mardan district and announced to resignation from his party office due to his party organisation’s poor performance in his constituency and other constituencies of Mardan district.
In a post shared on his different social media accounts Haider Hoti accepted the responsibility for the party’s defeat in all the constituencies of his ancestral district Mardan in the 2024 elections held on Thursday. Hoti said that he was heartbroken by the lack of trust shown by the people of his constituency and Mardan in him and his party. He said that he was resigning from the central senior vice presidency of ANP as a gesture of accountability. He stated that he would remain a humble member of the party and continue to follow the caravan of Bacha Khan, the founder of ANP. He thanked his supporters and workers for their loyalty and dedication. It may be noted that Haider Hoti, who is a nephew of ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan, was the youngest and the longest-serving elected chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2008 to 2013. During his tenure, the province was renamed from “North-West Frontier Province” to “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”. Hoti was elected from the National Assembly NA-21 (Mardan-II) in 2018 and from NA-9 (Mardan-I) in 2013. He also won a provincial assembly seat from PK-53 Mardan-VI in 2018 but vacated it to retain his National Assembly seat. Haider Hoti started his political career in the district joint secretary office. Later on, he remained the provincial president of the party. In the 2024 general election, Haider Hoti contested the election on NA-22-Mardan -2 against the PTI Peshawar region president Atif Khan who contested the election as an independent candidate. Atif secured 114,748 votes Haider Hoti secured 66,159 votes and lost this seat by a margin of 48,589 votes. On PK-57-Mardan-5 Haider Hoti contested the election against PTI independent candidate and former MPA Abdus Salam Afridi. Abdus Samal secured 38,126 votes and Haider Hoti secured 26,497 votes. Haider Hoti was defeated with a margin of 11,629 votes. It may be noted that the PTI clean sweep in the 2024 election in the Mardan district. Ali Mohammad Khan and Mujahid Khan thrice won the National Assembly seats. While Iftikhar Ali Mashwani and Tufail Anjam thrice won their PK seat. Abdus Salam Afridi, Amir Farzand Khan and Zahir Shah twice won their PK seat while Ihtisham Ali, Tariq Mahmood Aryani advocate and Zar Shahad first time contested the PK election and succeeded.
