MULTAN, April 8: An interesting electoral contest is likely in the NA-190 (Bahawalnagar-111) by-election to be held on April 12. The electioneering is being carried out in a highly charged atmosphere for a number of reasons
, including the 'conspicuous official involvement' from local to federal government level to secure victory for a particular candidate.
The seat fell vacant after the demise of federal minister Abdul Sattar Laleka who had returned from this constituency on the PML-Q ticket in the last general elections on Oct 10, 2002.
Four candidates - Tahir Basheer Cheema (PML-Q), Muhammad Ali Laleka (PPP), Mian Ihsan Bari (MMA) and Lateef Ansar Lajpal (independent) - are in the run. Tahir Cheema has to resign from the office of Chishtian Tehsil Nazim to contest the election on the ruling party ticket, which is perhaps awarded by the Jat decision-makers at the PML-Q to reward the Cheema-Jat clan for defection from the PPP.
Tahir's elder brother and Bahawalpur district Nazim Tariq Basheer Cheema recently bade farewell to his long association with the PPP, citing continuous 'maltreatment' by the party's top leadership.
However, only a few people had believed that Tariq Cheema was leaving the party after being dejected with the behaviour of party leadership. A majority of analysts had immediately forecasted that he had been eying the vacant NA-190 seat and desperately wanting the ruling party support as past experience showed that an 'official candidate' had succeeded in most of the by-elections.
Earlier in the Oct 10 elections, Tariq Cheema's brother-in-law Sajjad Jathol, as a PPP candidate, lost narrowly to Sattar Laleka at NA-190. Initially, Laleka's widow Shahida Sattar Laleka had confidently filed her candidature hoping that the ruling party would reward her late husband's services by backing her.
She had to be disappointed when not only the PML-Q bigwigs denied her the ticket, but the powers that be in the country allegedly also forced her to withdraw her candidature.
Rumours are there that authorities have promised to make her an adviser in the federal cabinet, but the Laleka clan has little faith that the powers will go by their words. Rather, there is a great feeling of resentment both in the Laleka clan and its supporters for being betrayed.
The late Sattar Laleka, assumed to be a close aide of both Gen Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, was the chief whip of the ruling PML-Q in the National Assembly. However, the Laleka clan found a candidate in young Muhammad Ali Laleka and the PPP also awarded him the ticket.
Shahid Akram, the son of former MPA Sufi Akram, had also filed his candidature on the PML-N ticket but, later on, he withdrew to support Ali Laleka from the ARD platform.
The PPP will in return support PML-N candidate Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal Gujjar in the by-election to be held next month in Rahim Yar Khan for the NA-196 which fell vacant after the resignation of Zafar Iqbal Warraich.
Although MMA's Mian Ihsan Bari had failed to create any ripples in the electoral bout, he had gained fame by challenging the graduation of Sattar Laleka in the court of law. Therefore, by and large, the by-election for NA-190 can be termed one-to-one contest between Cheema and Laleka.
The fourth candidate, Lateef Ansar Lajpal, hails from Multan. He is a habitual contestant as he has been a candidate almost everywhere in the Punjab irrespective of whether the election is for local bodies, provincial assembly or national assembly. According to some observers, he provides a comic relief to the stressful electioneering.
Political parties and ideologies have a little role to play in deciding electoral bouts in the Bahawalnagar district as biradarism has been instrumental in ensuring support of the electorates.
The Arains are the decisive factor at NA-190 while among other major stakeholders are the Jats and the Raputs. The Lalekas find their origin in the Rajput clan.
The Arain clan is said to be divided in Cheema and Laleka camps in the absence of any Arain candidate. Former federal minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor is supporting Cheema while Sufi Akram and another Arain stalwart Mian Rafi are in Laleka's camp.
Chaudhry Ghafoor's support and active role of Bahawalnagar district Nazim Ali Akbar Waince, Bahawalpur district Nazim Tariq Cheema and MPA Khadim Wattoo have made the position of Tahir Cheema slightly better. This is despite of the fact that he is not so popular due to corruption allegations levelled against him as the Chishtian Tehsil Nazim.
Meanwhile, young Ali Laleka along with PPP MNA Mian Mumtaz Ahmed Matiana has been electioneering day and night to turn dices in his favour. Seasoned politician Mumtaz Matiana has shifted his headquarters to Chishtian from Bahawalnagar to give a tough time to the official candidate.
The PPP people are also taking the by-election seriously as the party's top leaders Naheed Khan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Badr and Qasim Zia are likely to visit Chishtian shortly.
To ensure presence of the senior leadership at the by-election arena, the Punjab PPP has scheduled its executive committee meeting at Chishtian on April 11.The Cheema camp is not ignorant of the importance of stalwarts and Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi is expected to come to Chishtian on Friday (today) to announce a development package for the otherwise underdeveloped area.
The Cheema camp is reportedly hoping that if the chief minister announces natural gas supply to Chishtian then no one can stop its candidate from winning the by-election. Analysts say that resentment among the supporters and voters of the late Sattar Laleka, biradarism and reputation of Tahir Cheema may become adverse factors for the ruling party.
