While the PML-N and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have remained under fierce attack for months over the Panama leaks affair, and before that rigged elections, this appears to have had no impact at all on the popularity of the party. People gave it a resounding vote of support in its home province of Punjab where the PML-N won the chairman slot in 30 district councils and 11 municipal corporations as the last phase of polling for local governments was held across the province. The PPP and the PTI failed to win top posts in any district at all and the PML-N’s dominance was virtually unbroken. Only in Attock was the PML-Q able to get its candidate elected at the district council level, and this too is said to be mainly due to the support for the candidate, Iman Wasim. Given the results that have poured in from the Punjab, with voting in only two district councils in Rawalpindi and Nankana still to be held due to stay orders, the PTI in particular which had presented itself as a challenger to the ruling party in the Punjab, needs to rethink its position. There is certainly no evidence that the claims that the PML-N has been rejected by the people carry any weight. The PTI in fact was unable to hold on even to Imran Khan’s home district of Mianwali where the PML-N staged an upset.
With office-bearers due to take oath on the last day of 2016, the PML-N will soon strengthen its hold on the country’s biggest province. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, in triumphant mood, has attributed the success to services delivered to people. Shahbaz also hailed the local government system, in the past treated warily by provincial governments – though we must remember that the LB polls took place only on Supreme Court directions. While ruling parties enjoy an advantage going into LB polls, the PML-N’s choice of candidates and electoral strategy was immaculately planned. It is, however, obvious that many of those elected were close relatives of
persons already in power and holding seats in the provincial or national assemblies. The names of prominent political families crop up again and again. This is not very encouraging as far as democracy is concerned. Even today, it has not expanded beyond a particular circle of influential individuals, with exceptions coming in here and there. What is obvious, however, is that the PML-N clearly has deep roots in Punjab. The result is significant in terms of measuring the standing of various parties and will come as a boost to the PML-N at a time when so many attempts have been made to discredit it.