Lessons from a by-poll

The people of Lahore and Okara have given a message on behalf of the rest of Punjab: that the choice of a candidate, his credibility and track record matter as much as a party ticket. The by-elections should have been a walkover for the PML-N. Instead, its candidates struggled to retain their seats. This shows that all is not well with the way the PML-N is governing this country.
As for Ayaz Sadiq’s marginal victory, it reflects the anger of the people of Lahore against those MNAs and MPAs who abandon their constituents after getting elected. Moreover, the people of Okara have endorsed the disqualification of the PML-N candidate by rejecting his son. The message of these by-elections is that all is not well for the PML-N in central Punjab. The party should look beyond the Kashmiri clan and give preference to merit, competence and credibility if they aspire for victory in 2018. The results also show that Imran Khan has a following in Punjab but he cannot take them for granted.
Malik Tariq
Lahore

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PTI’s recent performance in the electoral contests of NA-122 and NA-144 more than proves the point that it still has an urbanised orientation whose workers and advisers are mostly composed of boisterous youth, most of whom are oblivious of the history and political dynamics of our country. Whereas admittedly the NA-122 contest has really been a close call, the PTI candidate was routed in Okara (NA-144) – a town hardly sixty miles south of Lahore. This trend clearly signifies that for the last nineteen years, the PTI has failed to woo rural constituencies (which can be termed the ‘silent majority’ for any electoral contest in our country).
In order to make a significant impact in the 2018 elections, Imran Khan and his team will have to bend over backwards to draw the support of ordinary, impoverished, oppressed masses of the villages of southern Punjab, Sindh and most importantly Balochistan. Theatrical tactics of ‘corruption’ or ‘rigging’ will not serve anyone’s purpose but will in fact contribute towards political instability in the country, enough of which has been witnessed during the 1990s.
Umar M Makhdumi
Karachi