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Thursday March 28, 2024

PML-N, PTI in tough fight for Ganj Bakhsh Town

LAHORE The Union Councils (UCs) falling in Data Ganj Bakhsh Town seem to be perfect ‘battlegrounds’ for political parties, particularly PML-N and PTI, in Lahore’s local government elections scheduled for October 31. Most of the UCs in this town fall in the national assembly Constituency NA-120 from where Prime Minister

By Khalid Khattak
October 30, 2015
LAHORE
The Union Councils (UCs) falling in Data Ganj Bakhsh Town seem to be perfect ‘battlegrounds’ for political parties, particularly PML-N and PTI, in Lahore’s local government elections scheduled for October 31.
Most of the UCs in this town fall in the national assembly Constituency NA-120 from where Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had won the 2013 general elections and also won consistently in many elections in the past.
Traditionally this town comprising pre-partition localities is considered a stronghold of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. However, over the years, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has succeeded in developing strong roots in this area. It is pertinent to mention here that Dr Yasmin Rashid of PTI had bagged 52,354 votes in NA-120 against Nawaz Sharif (91,683) in the 2013 general elections.
Besides the PML-N and PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), where it is not supporting other parties, has fielded candidates who are socially well-connected. Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) has either not fielded its candidates in all the UCs or those fielded are not prominent among political circles. At different UCs many disgruntled political workers, especially from the PML-N, who enjoy strong public support, are now contesting as independent candidates making the whole political scene very interesting in this town. This situation, according to political wizards, is going to benefit PTI during the polling as the PML-N’s votes would be divided. Among all the UCs in the Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, election seems interesting in the UC-58 as PML-N, PTI, JI and PPP too, have fielded their strong candidates in this UC particularly for the seat of Chairman.
PTI has fielded a noted educationist Prof Irfan Iqbal in UC-58 for the seat of Chairman; two-time Nazim Hafiz Naseem Ahmed Chishti is representing JI, GCU’s graduate and businessman Shahab Basharat is from PML-N while Ismail Butt, a die-hard worker is representing the PPP in this UC. All these candidates enjoy public support so the competition in this UC seems to be tough especially for the PML-N which otherwise consider this UC one of its strongholds. “This is our stronghold and we are confident to win the elections in this UC”, Shahab Basharat of UC-58, who has a master’s degree in History, claimed while talking to The News.
However, Farhan Shaukat of JI, who is contesting on Vice-Chairman’s seat, believes otherwise saying “Our candidate for chairman has won twice from this area and this is going to be our victory again.” A number of locals The News talked to in this UC were divided in their views vis-à-vis political parties and ruling PML-N however remained their concern in the discussion. “The PML-N’s candidate does not live here” and “As to why we should vote for him?” questioned a local Tanveer, who is supporting PTI. A PML-N die-hard Mirza Saleem, however, said his party leadership was always available to solve problems faced by the locals. “We have seen a number of development works in our area in the last couple of years and believe in serving the masses”, he added.
Ali Raza, a PPP supporter, said his party candidates would get considerable votes even if they could not win the elections.
An interesting situation has emerged in adjoining union council (UC-59) as two disgruntled PML-N workers, who enjoy good public interaction, are now contesting the elections independently following PML-N didn’t award party tickets to the two, Bao Rafiq Gujjar (for Chairman) and Irfan Taj (for Vice-Chairman). According to the locals, the two are going to damage their rivals Ilyas Khan (for Chairman) and Manzoor Gujjar (for Vice-Chairman) of PML-N. “This may benefit the PTI candidates (Mateen-ul-Rehman and Hafiz Abdul Mannan) in UC-59”, commented a local, Shakaib.
Similarly in another union council of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, UC-65, a tough competition is expected especially between PTI and PML-N. A young candidate Ali Naveed Bhatti, son of noted social worker of the area late Naveed Kamal Bhatti, is representing PTI for Chairman’s seat while Awais Bashir Khan is contesting from the PML-N. The PPP’s candidate is Syed Ahmed Raza and Muhammad Naeem Ch, a disgruntled worker of PTI is contesting independently from this union council for the seat of Chairman.