Ali Amin Gandapur: Why is the embattled politician PTI's top choice for KP CM-ship?

The Imran-founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which once again emerged as a major party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the February 8 nationwide polls, has named Ali Amin Gandapur, its firebrand stalwart for the chief minister’s slot.

Gandapur was born in 1978 to a Dera Ismail Khan family with a military and political background. His father, the late Major (retd) Aminullah Gandapur, served as a caretaker cabinet member in the dictatorial government of the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.

He started his political career with the Imran-founded party in 2007 and rose to the position of the regional president of the party’s south KP chapter after the 2013 intra-party elections.

Gandapur received his early education from Saint Helen’s Public School in his hometown, while he matriculated from Police Public School — Peshawar. 

He did his intermediate from Government College University (GCU) Lahore and graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore. His major was fashion design.

The designated chief minister was a Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) in KP from 2013 to 2018 and rendered his services as the Provincial Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Revenue and Estate after being inducted into then-CM Pervez Khattak-led cabinet.

The PTI stalwart was elected Member of the National Assembly (MNA) in the 2018 general elections, in which his party formed the government in the Centre on top of strengthening its political position in Punjab.

He was given the portfolio of Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan on October 5, 2018.

Gandapur is more popular than his three politician brothers, although, his entire family is considered highly politically active in the Gandapur tribe of Pashtuns.

The firebrand politician, who is famous for his impassioned speeches, has always stood by Imran Khan through rain and sunshine, whether it was Azad March — Islamabad or Zaman Park — Lahore.

He went into hiding after several cases were lodged against him in the aftermath of the May 9, 2023 riots that erupted following the PTI founder’s arrest last year.  He came back into the political picture after the demise of his father on February 12, 2024.

The politician also contested the 2024 general elections as a PTI-backed independent candidate amid tough times after the Imran-founded party lost its legal battle to keep its iconic “bat” electoral symbol and its top leaders were put behind bars in a plethora of cases.

Citing a big political dent after May 9's violent incidents, Gandapur, after filing his nomination papers, urged a thorough inquiry into the riots, demanding answers as to why the PTI supporters were not stopped during the violent protests.

The former federal minister, however, appealed to all the stakeholders to move ahead for the sake of the country’s interests, and development instead of carrying out political witch-hunting, as well as, he also called for devising a mechanism to stop such activities.

Expressing his reservations over the 2024 poll results, the PTI stalwart told Geo News that "stealing of mandate is tantamount to treachery". He advocated his party’s initiative of introducing electronic voting machines (EVMs) to eliminate vote rigging.

After being nominated for the KP chief ministership, he signalled inducting new faces, up to more than 50%, into the next provincial cabinet, giving them a chance to represent the citizens in the assembly.

As per the party’s internal perception about Gandapur's nomination for the KP’s top slot, the PTI workers backed the decision and termed his nomination the best choice.

Elaborating on his plans to run the new provincial government, the politician proposed widescale reforms in health, education, social welfare, and other public sectors.

Gandapur also promised the resumption of work on the projects halted by the caretaker set-up besides continuing health cards, langar khanas (soup kitchen), and other welfare projects.