Wagah Town remains peaceful

LAHORE
The process of polling by and large remained peaceful at most polling stations in Wagah Town on Saturday with reports of small skirmishes in certain areas.
The usual fanfare of the elections remained the hallmark of the polling day as political parties set up their camps outside polling stations, where workers assisted the voters to cast their votes without any hiccups. The polling was slow in till noon, which however, picked in second half of the day. The polling started at 7:30 am and closed at 5:30 pm, however, some voters were allowed to cast their votes after the cut-off time because they had entered their polling stations before closing time.
The Wagha Town consists of two National Assembly seats and four Punjab Assembly seats, as Sheikh Rohail Asghar and Sohail Shaukat Butt of PML-N have been elected from two NA seats, while Waheed Gul, Malik Waheed, Rana Tajammal and Ghulam Habib Awan of PML-N have been elected from PA seats. The major castes that define the voters’ trend include Dayal, Ghurki, Butt, Arain, Jutt, Gondal, Rajpoot, Awan, Mayo, Sheikh, Dhilon, etc., which play a major role in final outcome of the local bodies election in this part of the City. The MNAs and MPAs were using all their energies to get their candidates succeed in the election.
The Wagha Town, which comprises Union Councils (UCs) from 131-138, 143-144, 174-183, 189-191 and 194, includes areas of Naseerababd, Green Park, Muslimabad, Sirajpura, Mominpura, Daroghawala, Shadipura, Karolwar, Lakhoder, Bao Gujran, Awan Dhaiwala, Atoke Awan, Manawan, Rampur Jageer, Bhaseen, Nathoki, Mihala Kalan, Wagha, Moza Jallo Kher, Barki, Hadyara, Ghond, Ludhar and many more. Each union council comprises 4 to 5 wards and contains a voter population of 18,000 to 20,000.
The major parties’ candidates are contesting on their party symbols i.e. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Shair (Tiger), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Teer (Arrow), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Balla (Bat), Jamat-e-Islami on Tarazoo (Balance) and independents on Balti (Bucket) and Heera (Diamond).
The residents of the different localities of Wagha Town hoped that the winning candidates fulfill their demands including establishment of schools and hospitals, provision of clean drinking water, sewerage, sui-gas, electricity, repair of the dilapidated roads, constructing new carpeted roads and streets, street lights, garbage containers, award of proprietary rights to the katchi abadi residents, etc.
However, tough contest was seen between the candidates of PML-N and PTI as far as the electioneering was concerned, as they have emerged as main rivals on top seats of Chairman and Vice Chairman in all Union Councils. However, the candidates of PPP and Jamat-e-Islami may also be able to win some seats of councilors of wards, although major portion of ward seats of councilors are also likely to go to PML-N and PTI.
Cracks appeared within PML-N and PTI as several disgruntled workers have been contesting as independents after declining of respective party tickets, which may benefit the rival candidates in certain constituencies. The PTI, in certain constituencies, failed to field candidates due to weak organization at the grassroots level.
However, the disgruntled workers, contesting independently, were using names and pictures of their party leaders on their posters, banners, flexes, etc., which were displayed on roads, walls, rickshaws and vehicles. The candidates are also giving advertisements on cable TV channels, city’s local channels and small newspapers. The candidates and their workers were calling on mobile phones and also going door-to-door, besides providing them transport to bring them to cast their votes.