Limited re-polling in KP shows no adverse impact on PTI

ISLAMABAD: Though at a very small scale, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) voters in a few constituencies where re-polling was held to form local governments evinced no adverse impact on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) owing to its complete failure to prove its rigging allegations before the inquiry commission.
Precisely like the May local elections in the whole of KP, the PTI dominated Thursday’s highly restricted electoral exercise by turning out to be the largest seat getting party. Like before, it was trailed by the independents.
It is widely believed that the PTI received a serious setback because of the findings of the 3-judge commission headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk and people at large have become wary of its policies.
In addition, it is also felt that desertions from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to the PTI have come to a halt due to the drubbing PTI squad has received due to the findings of the commission.
At least for the time being, the results show that the report of the commission did not have any negative effect on the voters against the PTI in the limited re-election for the local government in the KP.
The outcome of the re-polling has naturally provided something to the PTI to rejoice after a long time when it was under tremendous pressure because of the findings. It reinforced its impression that the sway it got due to its politics remains largely unchanged, and is going to stay. However, the real test will come in the Punjab local polls after a few months.
On the other hand, the performance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was extremely dismal in the re-polling, underlining its failure to resurrect in KP in the near future. It fared as badly it had in the May local elections in this province.
Its provincial chapter is debilitated to demonstrate any better showing. One of its key leaders was made the KP governor, who can’t engage in active politics due to his official position. Another important stalwart has been elected senator from Islamabad as the party was in no position to return him from the KP Assembly.
Thursday’s re-polling clearly demonstrated that the PML-N in KP is no match to the PTI’s electoral power. Even the Awami National Party (ANP), which was down and out because of the rout it faced in the 2013 general elections, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) performed much better than the PML-N in Thursday’s re-election.
As a result, the PTI is poised to clinch a number of top offices of chairmen of the district and Tehsil councils apart from the heads of the lowest tiers of the local governments.In total contrast to the faux pas created by the incompetence of the KP administration, Thursday’s exercise was completely peaceful and orderly. Strict measures were taken to ensure security and protection of voters. However, the exercise was very restricted compared to the May local elections, which exposed the KP government.
Because of massive irregularities principally caused by the pathetic performance of the KP police and other authorities, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered re-polling in these areas.
The KP administration had shifted the blame of chaos that griped on the previous polling on the ECP while the latter held the former squarely responsible for the gross mismanagement and bungling.