ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf’s decision to boycott the by-elections held over the weekend appears to have left the PTI itself bruised, rather than its political rivals.
Not only the voters’ turnout defied the usual low pattern in by-elections, the boycott provided the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N an opportunity to shape strategies for the coming general election.
The PML-N feels much relieved over the turnout in Punjab and said it has exposed PTI’s claims of popularity. The PPP also sees a setback for the PTI.
There has been a lot of excitement, particularly in the PML-N camp, over the outcome of the polls, because it was not sure about such a high turnout in most of the seven constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies in Punjab where polling was held.
PTI leaders plan to sit together in coming days to analyse the factors behind the high turnout and people not paying heed to its call to stay away from the polling booths.
The PML-N believes that people rejected the call because of PTI’s departure from its ‘principled stance’, while the PPP says people don’t want to stay away from the political process.
“Why shouldn’t we be happy over the results? There had been tall claims from the PTI that people would not come out of their homes but the phenomenal turnout shows that they can’t be befooled,” PML-N’s Senator Pervaiz Rashid said.
Talking to Dawn, he said people had rejected PTI chief Imran Khan’s call to boycott the by-polls. “Mr Khan now should understand people’s message -- do the politics of principles. The turnout proved the reality of Mr Khan’s ‘tsunami’. Now we don’t have to prove this.”
The PML-N leader said people had expressed their disdain for all those who had defected from their parties and joined the PTI.
“See the turnout especially in the constituencies of Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali, Jehangir Tareen and Javed Hashmi. The people came out to reject the politics of these politicians,” he said.
Mr Rashid said the PTI had launched a propaganda campaign against the PML-N and PPP for having fielded, in its words, weak candidates against each other’s strong ones under an alleged deal. “Mr Hashmi had secured 22,000 votes against Mr Qureshi in 2008. Now our ‘weak’ candidate got 44,000 against Ali Musa Gilani, son of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Will the PTI tell us who the really weak candidate was?”
The PML-N leader said people rejected Mr Khan’s politics after he started deviating from his stance of bringing in new faces.
“Now he better do charity work and give suggestions to improve the cricket infrastructure.”
PPP’s Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan said the major parties had mobilised their voters in the face of the PTI call. “The PPP and PML-N showed their strength in the high-profile contests. They have proved that their workers are active and ready for the coming general elections,” he said, adding that the PTI had suffered a setback and the impact of the by-polls would go a long way.
“The muscles and skills of all the major political players are judged when they enter the election arena. Those having fear don’t enter it.”
PTI leader Omar Sarfraz Cheema said voters’ lists having ‘45 per cent fake’ entries was the reason of the high turnout. “High turnout is not a big deal if the state machinery is at the candidates’ disposal,” he said. He cited Gen Pervez Musharraf’s referendum of 2002 in which 96 per cent turnout had been claimed.
“In fact the PPP and PML-N had made a seat-adjustment arrangement and the election was a mere formality,” he said.
PTI’s additional general secretary Saifullah Niazi said his party had boycotted the elections because rectification of the voters’ list had not been completed.
He alleged that development schemes of over Rs2 billion had been announced in the constituency of the prime minister’s son.
Mr Niazi, however, reiterated PTI’s tsunami would ‘sweep away’ all the forces presently exploiting the situation.
Six of the 10 seats contested on Saturday had fallen vacant because members of the two major parties had resigned from the assemblies to join the PTI, taking it for the rising star on the political horizon.
All these ‘winnable stalwarts’ not only themselves stayed away from the by-election but in some constituencies actively ran a campaign asking people to boycott the process.
According to unofficial results declared by the Election Commission, the average turnout in six National Assembly and two Punjab Assembly seats where the PTI claims to have popularity only dropped to 39 per cent in the by-polls from 46 per cent in 2008.
According to experts, the turnout is extremely encouraging because it traditionally remains considerably low in by-polls. In the Punjab Assembly constituency from Attock (PP-18), the turnout was 62 per cent, the same as recorded in the last general election.Except for the National Assembly seat from Multan (NA-149) vacated by Mr Hashmi, where turnout was only 16.5 per cent, PTI’s appeal failed to have any effect. In 2008 also, the turnout in this constituency was on the lower side at 30 per cent.
Mr Hashmi’s seat has again been clinched by PML-N’s Tariq Rashid. However, he managed to win after a tough fight -- securing 37,143 votes against 34,531 of PPP’s Liaqat Dogar. Mr Hashmi had got 70,864 votes.
In the adjoining constituency of Multan (NA-148), PPP’s Ali Musa Gilani secured 10,000 more votes than former foreign minister Qureshi who had won on a PPP ticket in 2008. Mr Qureshi had got 83,184 votes.
Another significant aspect of the by-election in this constituency is that the PML-N has gained significantly. Its candidate Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar secured 42,819 votes whereas in 2008 Mr Hashmi had stood third with 24,578 votes. The runner up was Rai Mansab Ali of the PML-Q with about 40,000 votes.
The turnout in Vehari (NA-168) was 42.6 per cent against 49.8 per cent in 2008. Natasha Daultana of the PPP bagged more than 70,000 votes for the seat that had fallen vacant after the death of her brother Azeem Daultana who had secured 49,299 votes after a close fight. It is said that she got sympathy votes even from the Daultana family’s members belonging to other parties after the tragic death of her brother in a road accident.
Despite this, the PML-N improved its position and its candidate Bilal Akbar Bhatti got about 40,000 votes. In 2008, PML-N’s Tehmina Daultana was third with 26,000 votes, whereas Ishaq Khakwani, now a PTI leader, was the runner up on a PML-Q ticket with 47,898 votes.
The situation is almost the same in Rahimyar Khan where PML-F’s Mustafa Mehmood won by obtaining about 80,000 votes.
The seat had been vacated by PTI leader Jahangir Tareen who had won in 2008 with 84,500 votes on a PML-F ticket. The turnout in 2008 was 43.2 per cent and on Saturday 36 per cent.
In Kasur, both the PTI and the PPP suffered a setback as the contest for the seat vacated by Sardar Assef of the PPP after joining the PTI is between two independent candidates -- both having PML-N’s backing. The EC has suspended the result due to a close fight and ordered a recount. However, the PPP is no way near the two top candidates. The turnout remained a little over 40 per cent whereas it was 56 per cent in 2008.
In Mianwali, the turnout for the Punjab Assembly seat (PP-44) came down to 46 per cent from 50 per cent. The PML-N, having bagged the seat with 38,800 votes in 2008, has retained it with an improved tally of over 45,000.
The situation is not different in Mardan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the Awami National Party (ANP) retained its National Assembly seat (NA-9) vacated by Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti after joining the PTI. The ANP secured about 31,000 votes, almost the same as in 2008.
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