Renowned winners, losers in Lahore polls

LAHORE: As Maryam Nawaz Sharif keeps pressing the accelerator hard while supporting her ailing mother Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the PTI Chairman Imran Khan is expected to provide the much-needed impetus to the election campaign of his candidate, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, just a few days before what is expected to be an action-packed September 17 ballot exercise in Lahore’s historic NA-120 constituency.

Elections in Lahore have traditionally been full of adventure, intensity, colour, activity and fervor.Since the December 7, 1970 ballot exercise, the first-ever direct elections in the country, innumerable eminent Pakistanis have won and lost many eventful National Assembly elections in this City, which is otherwise known as the political hub of the country.

The winners and losers in previous Lahore National Assembly polls include Prime Ministers, Presidents, chief ministers, governors, foreign ministers, NA speakers, federal ministers, religious clerics, business tycoons, former air force chiefs, Lahore mayors, former high court and Supreme Court judges, sons and siblings of retired army generals, television and film artists, chartered accountants-turned-politicians, successful barristers, and globally-acknowledged cricketing icons etc. 

Research shows that many personalities under review have won and lost one or more ballot exercises held in Lahore during the last 47 years (1970-2017). Therefore, the lists of famous winners and losers (below) would include some common names.

Here follow the names of some well-known winners between December 1970 and August 2017:

Former Prime Minister and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, sitting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sitting Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, late Mian Abbas Sharif, sitting Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Javed Hashmi, former Finance Minister Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Pervaiz Malik, Khawaja Saad Rafique, PPP’s Malik Akhtar, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s confidant Sheikh Rasheed, Khurshid Kasuri’s father Mian Mehmood Ali Kasuri (member of Indian National Congress before creation of Pakistan), former caretaker Premier and Speaker National Assembly Malik Meraj Khalid, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, Sahibzada Ahmed Raza Khan Kasuri, former Federal Law Minister S.M. Masood, Mian Salahuddin alias Mian Salli (son-in-law of Allama Iqbal and father of socialite-cum-politician Yousaf Salahuddin), Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Liaquat Baloch, Jamaat-e-Islami’s elderly leader syed Asad Gillani, Hafiz Salman Butt, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, former Punjab Governor, Lahore’s Lord Mayor and a founding PML-Q leader Mian Muhammad Azhar, Jahengir Badar, former Punjab Governor Khawaja Ahmed Tariq Rahim, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mian Usman, Shafqat Mehmood, Humayun Akhtar Khan, Malik Umer Hayat, Ashiq Dayal, Tariq Banday, Mian Muneer, late Khalid Javed Ghurki, renowned television compere and actor Tariq Aziz, Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Sardar Kamil Umar, Farid Paracha, Barrister Farooq Amjad Mir, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Samina Khalid Ghurki, Bilal Yaseen, Umer Sohail Zia Butt, Naseer Bhutta and Afzal Khokhar etc. 

Here follow the names of some well-known losers between December 1970 and August 2017:

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Dr. Tahirul Qadri, Mian Salahuddin alias Mian Salli, former Lahore High Court Chief Justice Javed Iqbal, former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Mian Tufail Muhammad, another former Jamaat-e-Islami JIChief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Abdul Aleem Khan, well-known lawyer and PTI leader Hamid Khan, Air Marshal (R) Asghar Khan, Naseer Bhutta, Ahmed Saeed Kirmani, Khawaja Rafique, former Secretary General Foreign Affairs Akram Zaki, Humayun Akhtar Khan, former Lahore Mayor Chaudhary Muhammad Hussain, Mian Arif Iftikhar, Nawab Zufikar Qazalbash, Farooq Ahmed Ali, Rafiq Ahmed Bajwa, former Punjab Chief Minister Hanif Ramay, former Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Malik Qasim, former Punjab Governor Khawaja Ahmed Tariq Rahim, Mian Meraj Din, Begum Afsar Raza Qazalbash, actor Qavi Khan, film singer Inayat Hussain Bhatti, Maulana Maudoodi’s son Farooq Maudoodi, Syed Asad Gillani, Yousaf Salahuddin, Rafique Ahmed Sheikh, Sheikh Rohail Asghar, Justice (retd) Malik Saeed Hassan, Hafiz Salman Butt, Liaquat Baloch, former Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, cricketer Fazal Mehmood, Mian Azizur Rehman Chan, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Farid Ahmed Paracha, former Punjab Governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, late PPP leader Zia Bakht Butt, Shahid Nabi Malik, Air Marshal (retd) Khursheed Anwar Mirza, Mian Misbahur Rehman, Air Marshal (R) Shahid Zulfikar Ali, Dr. Pervaiz Hassan, Malik Shah Muhammad Mohsin, current PML-N provincial minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Ijazul Haq’s brother-in-law and former Governor Lt. General (retd) Raheemud Din Khan’s son Faaiz Rahim Khan, Sheikh Rohail Asghar’s son Khurram Rohail Asghar (lost on a PML-Q ticket), Ijaz Dayal, Syed Asif Hashmi, former Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Lt. General (R) Tauqeer Zia’s brother Khawaja Tahir Zia, Aleem Khan and Mian Ikhlaq Ahmed Guddu etc.