NA-75 Daska by-election: The game of community politics

Community politics  plays  major role in any election and the NA-75 by-polls scheduled for tomorrow in Daska will be no different.

"Political parties field candidates from large communities, so that these people can join the community and the people of the tribe with them [to get votes]," says one resident of the NA-75 constituency.

The National Assembly constituency consists of villages located in the NA-75 Daska city, Gujranwala and Sialkot.

The NA-75 constituency has more than 823,000 voters and the turnout in the last three elections has remained over 55%.

A close competition is expected tomorrow between PML-N candidate Nosheen Iftikhar and the ruling PTI's candidate Asjad Malhi. Iftikhar is from the Syed community and Malhi from the Jat community.

The major communities in the constituency include the Jat, Mughal, Rajput, Kashmiri, Ansari and Aryan communities. These groups still play a decisive role in the victory or defeat of any candidate in electoral politics.

Another resident says it is common practice for politicians to attach themselves with a large community and then assure them of protecting their interests. "The game of community politics has been successfully played for years," he said.