Chitral faces challenges of underdevelopment despite being the largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The region faces challenges with poor infrastructure, limited educational facilities, and healthcare service limitations. This is due to the patterns in Chitral’s electoral history; that have been the practice for a long time. It left the district deprived of major government projects and development funds.

In the political process, elections are the key instruments that shape a constituency’s development. Pakistan has a democratic system, and people choose their representatives as their rulers. The federal nature of the country provides the opportunity for the people in terms of making decisions to bring their representatives to two levels of government, which are the federal and provincial levels.

Chitral’s electoral history shows a consistent pattern of electing opposition representatives, leading to a lack of government attention and development.

The scale of development and progress in a region depends on the alignment of representatives to the ruling party. Those who have affiliations with the ruling party always have a better chance or position to secure more benefits for their region’s development and progress.

Historically, in Pakistan, ruling parties preferred to facilitate their candidates in the allocation of funds and projects. Conversely, members belonging to opposition parties face challenges in securing funds and projects for their constituencies.

One such example of electoral imbalance is the constituency of Chitral, where the elected candidates have proven to lack political affiliations with the ruling parties, resulting in underdevelopment.

Over the past five general elections (2002, 2008, 2014, 2018, and 2024), Chitral’s voting pattern has often been contrary to the national political landscape. Due to these divergent results of Chitral’s voting pattern, the district faced consequences in the development sector.

For instance, in the 2002 elections, the elected candidates of Chitral for the National Assembly (Maulana Abdul Akhbar Chitrali) and Provincial Assembly Members (Maulana Abdul Rehman and Maulana Jahangir Khan) belonged to the political alliance Mutahida Majlis e Ammal (MMA), while the ruling party became Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q). This lack of affiliation provided the elected candidates with no chance to bring about valuable progress in the region.

Poor infrastructure, limited education, and inadequate healthcare continue to hinder Chitral’s progress despite being the largest district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Chitral repeated the same trend in the election of 2008, when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) secured the federal government. The national assembly member from Chitral was Shahzada Muhay ud Din from PMLQ, while the provincial assembly members were divided between PPP (Saleem Khan) and PML-Q (Ghulam Muhammad). Although some leverage was provided by the presence of PPP in the province, it was insufficient to bring development.

Similarly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) succeeded at the national level in the 2013 elections, while Chitral elected Iftikhar Ud Din from All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) as its MNA. In addition, Saleem Khan and Sardar Hussain, both from the PPP, were elected as MPAs. This imbalance once again put impacts on Chitral’s fortune.

2018 marked a new political shift in history as Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for the first time emerged victorious at the national level. However, Chitral again remained in the vicious cycle of electoral dilemma by electing Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman from MMA as its MNA and MPA, respectively.

In the most recently conducted elections of 2024, held on February 8, Chitral voted for Abdul Latif, a PTI-backed candidate for the National Assembly, despite PML-N being the ruling party in the center. Fateh ul Mulk Ali Nasir and Suraya BIBI, both PTI-backed candidates from Chitral-Lower and Chitral-Upper, respectively, succeeded in getting provincial assembly seats. This continuity of voting pattern of electing opposition representatives reveals Chitral’s electoral dilemma and its impact on the overall development of the district.

The consequences of Chitral’s electoral choices are apparent in the district’s lack of basic facilities development. Geographically, located in the Northern Region, covered with high peak mountain ranges, it is the largest district of KPK by area. It has vast remote areas from Broghole Valley in the North to Arandu Valley in the south. These remote areas remain disconnected due to poor infrastructure, roads, and bridges essential for connectivity and economic growth.

Many of the remote areas lack either connectivity roads or roads in disrepair. Many children have limited access to education due to either a lack of educational institutions or unavailability of teaching staff. The healthcare system is also underdeveloped with the lack of basic facilities. Residents travel long distances for basic medical care.

Strategic voting, considering candidates’ alignment with ruling parties, could break the cycle of neglect and bring development to Chitral.

Chitral has been deprived of its due share of development funds due to the lack of alignment of representatives with the ruling parties. Successive governments have prioritized constituencies with their representatives. Constituencies like Chitral having representatives from the opposition desk have been sidelined. This led a district into a cycle of continuity of neglect, where promises made during election campaigns remain unfulfilled.

A shift in Chitral’s electoral practice can break this cycle. Adaptation of strategic voting in elections is the best approach to break this cycle. In strategic voting, the voters consider not only individual qualities or links with the candidates but also their political affiliation and competency to influence development. Strategic voting does not mean compromising on one’s values and principles, but it is an approach to analyze the outcomes in the best interest of the district.

In a broader sense, the voters must assess the candidate based on their abilities to better represent them and advocate for the district efficiently within the ruling party’s framework. The approach is suitable to cement the gap between Chitral’s potential and its current state of underdevelopment. The strategic voting approach will provide a way to bring the district out of the cycle of neglect.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.