Second phase of LB polls to determine overall standing of parties

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) aspire to repeat in Thursday’s second phase of local council elections the sweeping results of the October 31 first stage in their strongholds in Punjab and Sindh respectively.
On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is struggling to improve on its previous highly dismal performance that emerged in the inaugural segment of the electoral exercise which has been spread over three phases for the first time to get rid of an extraordinary pressure and strain on the administrative machinery, police, the law enforcement agencies and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to organise the process smoothly and in a peaceful environment.
If the PML-N and PPP succeed to come up with the same or quite similar results in the second phase too, their confidence level will go very high, making them unchallenged in theses areas. But if they failed to have an impressive majority like before, their respective public rating and sway will go down.
Similarly, if the PTI fared better than the past, the outcome would help it to come out of the state of dejection, demoralisation and depression. However, if it was unable to do better, its woes would rise high and its political size be drastically cut.
Looking at the districts where the polling will be held on November 19, it becomes clear that the PML-N had performed exceptionally well in these Punjab areas in the 2013 general elections while the PPP had carried the day in this interior part of Sindh. Thus, the districts falling in Punjab are considered PML-N’s strongholds while the PPP has traditionally been winning in these Sindh areas.
Considering the public perception created by the campaign waged by the PTI over the past two years in which it hit the PML-N very hard and also harshly attacked the PPP, it was believed by many people that Imran Khan’s squad would get a substantial share in the local councils specifically in Punjab, which has been his primary priority all the time. Sindh has never been on the preference list of the PTI or the PML-N. The PTI is unlikely to make any significant gains in Sindh.
Similarly, it is ruled out that the PML-N will be able to clinch any respectable number of seats in Sindh, simply because it has paid no attention to this province. The same fate awaits the PPP in Punjab.
However, knowing that Sindh is his weakest field, PTI chief Imran Khan spared two days for election campaign there. He has allocated three days to Punjab for the purpose as he tries to overcome the trauma caused by divorcing Reham Khan.
The local bodies coming in place now will play a great role in the next general elections for the political parties with which the councillors and their chairmen and mayors would be
affiliated. They can do much
better election campaign for having very small constituencies with a few thousands of voters to approach. The size of the constituencies makes it possible for them to have constant contacts with the voters. Additionally, a councillor will likely know almost every voter of his area.
Meanwhile, precisely 29.3pc voters of Punjab and Sindh will exercise their right in the second stage to be followed by the third phase on December 5. They include 27.57pc electorate of the total Punjab voters and 27.57pc constituents of all the Sindh voters.
In Punjab that has 53,824,453 registered voters, as many as 14,685,822 electorates will exercise their vote on November 19. Likewise, in Sindh, which has a total of 20,131,292 voters, 7,159,494 voters will cast their votes. A total of 2,845,316 voters of Punjab and Sindh, put together, will cast their votes in the second stage.
In the first phase, precisely 33.4pc voters of Punjab and Sindh participated in the polling. They included 37.3pc electorates of the total voters of Punjab and 22.9pc of all the voters of Sindh.
Polling will be held in twelve Punjab districts. Among them, Gunjranwala district is the most populous with 2,421,472 votes followed by Sargodha with 1,971,217 votes, Sheikhupura with 1,475,171 votes, Khanewal with 1,434,475 votes, Sahiwal with 1,306,155 votes, Toba Tek Singh with 1,183,186 votes, Attock with 1,076,686 votes, Mandi Bahauddin with 893,376 votes, Jhelum with 853,397 votes, Mianwali with 823,647 votes, Chiniot with 654,141 votes and Hafizabad with 592,899 votes.
After postponement of election in Sanghar, polling will be held in 14 Sindh districts. Among them, Hyderabad district is the most populous with 929,719 votes followed by Shaheed Benazirabad with 698,536 votes, Badin with 684,988 votes, Naushehro Feroze with 662,441 votes, Mirpur Khas with 624,638 votes, Dadu with 647,344 votes, Tharparkar with 510,876 votes, Umer Kot with 413,613, Thatta with 399,761 votes, Jamshroro with 391,618 votes, Tando Allahyar with 322,887 votes, Sajawal with 316,982 votes, Matiari with 308,374 votes and Tando Muhammad Khan with 247,717 votes. Characteristic hue and cry raised by losers apart, the second phase is hopefully going to be as fair, free, transparent and hassle-free as was the first segment in view of the satisfactory arrangements made by the ECP.