Daska’s decision

The by-poll in Daska NA-75, for the second time around after the Election Commission of Pakistan had declared the verdict of the controversial poll held in February this year null and void, is immensely significant. The seat has eventually gone to Nosheen Iftikhar of the PML-N with 111,220 votes compared to the 92,019 votes collected by Ali Asjad Malhi, the candidate for the PTI. Throughout the run-up to the election process, the PTI had expressed absolute confidence that it would claim the seat and that it had indeed won the by-election held earlier in the year, alleging that the ECP had stepped in unfairly.

The victory proves that the PML-N is still a formidable power, notably in Punjab. This also raises the question of why it wishes to resign its seats from the NA since that would only strengthen the PTI and do the party no real good at all. Nosheen Iftikhar’s victory had been predicted by some senior PML-N leaders with Hamza Sharif this time taking over the task of campaigning for her in the constituency, given that Maryam Nawaz, who had played an extremely active role last time, has not been not well. A key factor in Nosheen’s victory was the fact that the turnout in urban areas where she stood stronger than Malhi, whose main support comes from rural districts of the constituency dominated by the Jat community, marked the fact that her party is not a force that can be ignored. Coming at the same time as the moves against the PTI leadership made by Jehangir Tareen, the Daska defeat is a major blow to the PTI.

Daska’s decision means that the by-poll coming up in Karachi, to be contested by Miftah Ismail for the PML-N will be very closely watched. Should the PML-N win this seat too, once more the question will arise why it should resign from the assemblies at all and why the PDM is divided in the first place. Such an outcome would bolster the PPP view that the parties opposing the PTI need to do so from within parliament where further by-poll victories would give them greater strength. This time though, unlike the events of February, the PDM played no part in what happened in Daska. That alliance may be over. But the politics of Punjab still do not move in favour of the PTI which has a great deal of thinking to do over where it went wrong and how it can salvage the situation after a defeat of over 16,600 votes in a constituency which constitutes the heartland of Punjab.