LONDON: Due to his dual nationality of British and Pakistani, singing sensation and comedy legend Chahat Fateh Ali Khan’s candidacy papers were denied by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
“It has crushed my desire to run for office, win, and serve Pakistan in the National Assembly, but I’m not giving up. Calling on the ECP to grant me the extraordinary right to compete in elections, the British-Pakistani spoke with this reporter over the phone from Lahore.
The former founder and head of the British Public Party (BPP) and Pakistan Development Party (PDP) declared, “This is not fair to overseas Pakistanis like myself.”
About six weeks ago, Chahat, whose real name is Kashif Rana, traveled from London to Lahore for live performances after being invited.
however made the decision to file nomination papers in an attempt to enter legislative politics.”The Returning Officer rejected my nomination papers during the scrutiny process,” the viral social media star stated. According to the constitution, every Pakistani is entitled to dual citizenship, hence they ought to be able to run for office. Since foreigners bring millions of rupees to Pakistan each month to support the country’s economy, we need to be permitted to run for office as well.
The British-Pakistani internet singing sensation intended to run as an independent on February 8 in general elections for the National Assembly (NA) seat representing Lahore’s NA-128.
“Thousands of my fans asked me to participate in Pakistani politics and voted for me on social media, so I decided to submit my papers.” Thousands of people cast ballots in favor of me to be Pakistan’s future prime minister in multiple polls. “These voices matter,” declared Chahat, who has urged his fellow Pakistanis to speak up in support of him.
Chahat has been active in politics before; it was his first love during his time as a college student in Sheikhupura, when he played first-class cricket and served as a student leader.
He played for Lahore in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy season of 1983–84. He participated in two elite matches. After a few years, he relocated to the UK in quest of a better opportunity.
After that, in the late 1990s, Chahat went back to Pakistan and founded the PDP, his own political party.
He states that he registered this party with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), but it was dissolved in the years that followed when Chahat departed Pakistan to return to the UK and left no one to speak with the ECP on the party’s behalf.
He established the BPP in 2005 and registered it with the Electoral Commission of the United Kingdom. Chahat entered the British Parliament that same year as a candidate from Ilford, an East London area with a sizable South Asian population.
Despite losing with about 2,000 votes, Chahat remained undeterred. Six Pakistanis ran in the local bodies election.
Telling this reporter that he had started his own BPP, he wanted to break the two-party system in British politics.
“I wanted the Labour and Conservative parties to lose their hegemony.” Despite being a third party, the Liberal Democrats are not very powerful. In addition to wanting to see greater representation of Asians and other minorities’ aspirations in the political system in the UK, my goals were twofold.
After failing to achieve any progress, he dissolved the BPP. “I decided to dissolve my party after realizing how hard it is to overthrow the UK’s two-party system. I spent day and night knocking on 4,500 doors before realizing how hard it would be to overthrow the two-party system.
