ISLAMABAD: In Saturday’s local elections for the Cantonment Boards (CBs), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) proved its firm grip on Punjab particularly the areas, starting from Lahore to Rawalpindi on the GT Road, which were hit by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tsunami. It was reinforced that Punjab was the bastion of power of the PML-N. The exercise turned out to a vote of confidence in the PML-N. It was also established that the 2013 general elections were fair, free and transparent as the CBs polls repeated their results. During its protest, the main target of the PTI was Punjab, but it has transpired that the agitation failed to even shave off Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s popularity in the majority province.Like Islamabadites, Rawal-pindites also suffered a lot because of the sit-in, and they voted against the PTI with a vengeance, telling it bluntly that they reject its rocking of their normal life for months through road blockades and barricades and suspension of their business. The CBs election results trashed the PTI’s allegations that the PML-N rigged the 2013 parliamentary polls in Punjab. This was also evident from the clean sweep of the PML-N in the CBs of Lahore (where Khawaja Saad Rafique had won defeating Hamid Khan of PTI in the 2013 polls) and Sialkot (where Khawaja M Asif had succeeded routing PTI’s Usman Dar). In the Lahore CBs, the PML-N phenomenally won 15 out of 20 seats. The PTI can’t dare to hurl allegation of any rigging as the CBs elections were supervised by the Pakistan Army. The Lahore and Sialkot seats were included in the four National Assembly constituencies that Imran Khan had repeatedly demanded should be scrutinized because they were struck by an unprecedented poll fraud. In the tsunami-struck cities of Gujranwala and Jhelum and the ‘catchment areas’ of the long march and sit-in, the PTI was nowhere near the PML-N in terms of winning CBs seats. But it had to stomach an unparalleled shock in Rawalpindi where PML-N’s Senator Chaudhry Tanvir, who had been sidelined since long due to the internal party strife, did a remarkable trick to field out the PTI in the two CBs. The PTI’s good performance in these areas in the 2013 elections suffered a serious setback. The results of the CBs polls in Punjab were to attract the utmost attention of all and sundry because the PTI had been claiming that it has conquered this province through its sit-in protest. But it turned out to be a mere wishful thinking, as many saner elements had earlier believed, as the PML-N not only maintained its old hold but rather gained. While the PTI is yet to submit any credible and solid piece of evidence to the judicial commission, it is anybody’s guess what impact the results of the CBs elections will have on the proceedings and final findings of the forum. The PTI was considered strong or at least it has given this impression in urban areas of Punjab particularly cantonments due to its support and campaign, which was concentrated in big cities and towns but this perception proved wrong if the voting pattern of a total of 1.87 electorates, who exercised their right of franchise in the CBs elections, is any guide. It was no doubt a restricted electoral exercise given the number of voters and the areas where polling was held. The PML-N has its candidates won in varying numbers from all provinces. The PTI got no representation from Balochistan like the 2013 general elections. Even in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) that the PTI rules, Imran Khan’s squad had no clean sweep in any CB although it emerged as the largest group. It bagged the highest number of seats, one-third of the total seats. However, the PTI will certainly relish the fact that it has secured an overall second position in the CBs after the PML-N although it may not be able to get control of too many CBs like the PML-N. In the 2013 elections, the PTI devoured the vote-bank of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) without inflicting any damage to the PML-N. It repeated this position in the CBs polls. The PPP’s performance was devastating as it got not a single seat in Punjab although it had fielded dozens of candidates. However, it won seven seats in Sindh and one seat in KP. Ironically, some PPP leaders like Aitzaz Ahsan and Qamaruzzaman Kaira still don’t understand that it is the PTI, and not the PML-N, that has decimated their party in Punjab. They inanely think that taking on the PML-N will revive their party and continue to have a soft corner for the PTI because of their misplaced perception. Putting aside the independents, who stood first in the CBs, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) occupied the third slot after the PML-N and PTI. The PML-Q, which ruled for eight years with Pervez Musharraf, his crony Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Awami Muslim League (AML), and Pakistan Awami Tehreek, which once made Pakistan upside down through its sit-in, failed to bag even a single seat anywhere in Pakistan. The PML-N’s performance in KP was quite poor. Even in Abbottabad, it failed to come out with anything respectable as it won just one seat while the PTI fared well here by pocketing three seats. The Jamaat-e-Islami’s performance was dismal but more pathetic was the position of the Awami National Party. The PML-N had fielded as many as 128 candidates — 99 in Punjab, 13 in KP, 12 in Sindh and four in Balochistan while PTI had sponsored a total of 137 candidates — 93 in Punjab, 22 in KP, 18 in Sindh and four in Balochistan.. The PPP had fielded 89 candidates — 58 in Punjab, 22 in Sindh, eight in KP and one in Balochistan. The number of candidates fielded by Jamaat-e-Islami was 74 — 41 in Punjab, 28 in Sindh and seven in KP. The MQM had sponsored 27 candidates, all in Sindh. The ANP contested on 13 seats in KP and AML vied for seven seats in Punjab. When contacted by The News, PTI senior leader Ishaq Khakwani said that the lack of proper mechanism of ticket distribution and rift among candidates in certain areas deprived the party from winning more seats in the CBs elections. He said despite not getting the expected number of seats, the PTI performed very well as it emerged as the second largest party in the country. “If you have a look at the PML-N performance, it did not perform well as there is a minor difference in the number of seats between its winning candidates and independent contestants, who were successful. This means the PML-N’s graph is rapidly declining in Punjab.” Asked whether the election results in Lahore and Sialkot CBs dispel PTI’s allegations of rigging in the 2013 general elections as PML-N has a clean sweep in these areas, Khakwani said the previous polls were sub judice in the judicial commission. However, he said the CBs elections were totally different thing the parliamentary polls. When asked whether the defeat of PTI in Rawalpindi and Chaklala CBs was a reaction of the masses against its sit-in as the party could not win any respectable number of seats here, he said there were some reasons behind this unexpected result and the same happened in the cities located on the GT Road. However, Khakwani said, the electoral result could not be termed people’s adverse reaction against PTI protest as the votes have equally been divided. “The independents performed well rather than the PML-N who performed well in these elections,” he said, adding that the PML-N could not be described as the only representative party in Punjab. Khakwani said PTI Chairman Imran Khan himself has admitted that the internal rifts between the party candidates deprived it from seats. However the PTI leadership has decided to bring reforms in the party ranks. Talking about submission of evidences against rigging before the judicial commission, he said they already have filed sufficient proofs and the PTI’s legal team is constantly working.
