Lahore NA-133 by-election: PPP desperate for revival in Punjab

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is treating the contest for the NA-133 Lahore seat as an opportunity to kick-start its efforts to revive its lost glory in Punjab but it is faced with an uphill task given its track record in successive general elections and by-polls.

Regardless of its performance in the present by-election, the PPP is all set to put up a massive campaign across Punjab in the run-up to the next parliamentary polls. However, if it can significantly improve on its previous showing in this mini-electoral scramble, it will be encouraged to prepare for the grand electoral contest with confidence in the hope that it has not been deprived of everything in the majority province.

The PPP has to cover for a huge deficit of votes that it had secured in this constituency in the 2018 elections. Its candidate had bagged roughly 5,000 ballots compared to the PML-N’s 90,000 votes.

To accomplish its ambition, a set of senior PPP leaders have dedicated a considerable amount of time to the Lahore constituency to extend a helping hand to party nominee Aslam Gill for mobilization in the area. The PPP has been visible in the poll campaign with the aim of getting itself noticed by voters and show that it is in the field as before. Its main rival is the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), which dominates the constituency. The PMLN canvassing, meanwhile, has not been very evident; its activities have been somewhat muted.

After the ouster of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from the contest because of a silly error of its candidate Jamshed Iqbal Cheema in his nomination papers, not only has the overall canvassing but also the competition has become lacklustre and free from the usual noise and trading of allegations.

The PTI’s presence in the clash would have added dynamism to the contest. The heated races between the PMLN and PTI had turned by-polls into huge events, witnessed multiple times in the recent past. The excitement had reached fever pitch in Daska because the by-election was annulled, and re-polling was ordered. The event left deep scars on the electoral politics because of the uncovering of official rigging and manipulation.

When polling is held for NA-133 on Sunday, PTI’s diehard workers and voters may be confused about what to do. They may prefer to stay away from the process because they have nobody in the race. For obvious reasons, they are not going to back the candidates of the PMLN and PPP. They are likely to remain aloof from the proceedings as they have no stake in them. This may affect the voter turnout.

The PPP has not won any by-election in Punjab in the past three years. Rather, where its representatives were fielded they failed to get even a respectable number of votes anywhere. In Sindh, its performance was much better.

Since the PTI is out of the arena, the impact of the back-breaking price-hike, inflation and overall governance may not become hot issues in the Lahore by-election. Even otherwise, the PTI has not been able to snatch any seat from the PMLN in a number of by-polls in 2018.

Traditionally, the PMLN has been victorious in this constituency. Pervez Malik had won this seat in 2018. Now, his widow, Shaista Malik, who is already a member of the National Assembly on a special seat, is vying for the seat on a PMLN ticket.

The PTI camp has been hit by dissensions and internal strife in this constituency. Senior party leader Senator Ejaz Chaudhry wanted the ticket for his son, but his request was denied, and the Jamshed Bashir Cheema, who was a special assistant to the prime minister, was preferred. His wife, who frequently appears in TV programmes to defend the PTI, was his covering candidate. Both committed the same mistake in their candidacy papers and earned expulsion from the contest on technical grounds.