Rawalpindi yet to witness full fledge election campaigns

Rawalpindi: With less than 30 days left for the polling, the election campaign in the city did not go beyond statements issued by different political parties as well as the hanging of banners, hoardings, and big pictures of the candidates. Campaigning for the upcoming general election is likely to gain momentum here in Rawalpindi and Islamabad after the allotment of election symbols to the candidates, people belonging to different walks of life told ‘The News’ here on Sunday.

One can see hoardings, banners, and big pictures of the candidates raised on electricity polls but there is no hustle or bustle on the ground. No bike rallies, no party flags, and nothing as slogans so far.

The owners of printing presses have complained that contesting candidates are yet to order the printing of banners, party flags, and other pompous items for the upcoming general elections which will be held on February 8, 2024.

The city is yet to wear a festive look and lacks enthusiasm on the part of the voters, thanks to the uncertain situation all around the country.

The contestants are also not conducting corner meetings, breakfast, lunch, and dinner for supporters all around. For the first time in election history, the country has witnessed the rejection of nomination papers of the political bigwigs by the Returning Officers and the protests against the award of party tickets by the political workers which led to a slow start of the election campaign. In some cases, the respective party leadership has had to change their decision vis-a-vis the award of party tickets.

The pre-election process has witnessed rejection of nomination papers of majority of contesting candidates. During the first phase of the election-related activity spanning over a month or so, the candidates struggled for the party tickets amidst uncertainty on account of acceptance of their nomination papers and could not start a full-fledged campaign.

The big political parties have not yet finalised their candidates from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Therefore all streets, buildings, and intersections were without posters and banners for their leadership. The majority of contestants have not yet opened their election offices in their constituencies.

The contestants of different political parties said that as the candidates have cleared all the hurdles of acceptance of their nomination papers and also got the party tickets, the campaign is likely to gain momentum in the coming days.

‘The News’ interviewed locals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad who said that they were observing that there is no pre-election atmosphere in the city so far. There have been no political camps, no gatherings, and corner meetings.

They were of the view that the inner city areas particularly Committee Chowk and Rehmanabad had been the hub of the election campaign but, this time there has been no election fever so far. They also said until a few days back, the candidates and even the political parties were not sure about their candidates in respective constituencies; some were denied tickets, and some resorted to protests after denial of the tickets which practically restricted the candidates from a full-fledged election campaign. Now as the stage has been set and the political parties have come up with a final line up, the electioneering is likely to gain momentum in the coming days.

Muhammad Yaseen a resident of Arya Muhallah said that the public was anxiously waiting for general elections. The caretaker government has completely failed to provide any kind of relief for the public. “How a democratic state can run without an elected government, he strongly protested.

Samina Ahmed a working lady said that being a nation, we were already late in conducting general elections in the country. The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) should take strict action against those people they were doing conspiracy to delay general elections, he appealed.

A survey of the city suggests that the contesting candidates have not yet opened their election offices in smaller localities to convince the voters to poll votes for them in upcoming general elections. While there was hustle and bustle of general elections in some of the rural areas.