Parties face divisions as cantt goes to polls

Published April 25, 2015
Armymen shift election material to a polling station in Rawalpindi on Friday. — INP
Armymen shift election material to a polling station in Rawalpindi on Friday. — INP

RAWALPINDI: As residents of cantonment areas go to the polls today, the three largest mainstream parties that are contesting the polls wrestle with internal divisions over the award of tickets.

Observers say that the denial of party tickets has created problems for parties and independent candidates are expected to divide their votes, which may benefit their rivals.

Imran Khan’s PTI, which is contesting the cantonment elections for the first time after its meteoric rise to popularity, presents a house divided. Its local chapter is divided between two groups: the MPAs, led by Sadaqat Abbasi and the office-bearers, led by Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

Both groups formed when the party was protesting outside parliament. Sadaqat Abbasi, the former PTI North Punjab president and local chapter office-bearers such as District President Arif Abbasi and others were sacked from their positions after an altercation with Imran Khan’s nephew Ahmed Niazi. New office-bearers, led by Ghulam Sarwar Khan, were appointed in their place.

For the cantonment elections, the party formed a parliamentary committee to select candidates, but it did not accommodate three candidates from the Ghulam Sarwar Group, who had recently joined the party, including PML-N’s Chaudhry Yousaf, PML-Q’s Malik Mehboob and PPP’s Babu Adrees.

The party also did not announce its candidates in a news conference, as most other parties did, but rather awarded tickets to the candidates by submitting their names to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Because of the bad blood this created, both sides steered clear of each other’s election campaigns. Even though the party established its election office in the PTI Punjab North offices, the MPAs’ group, including Arif Abbasi and Asif Mehmood, did not visit it and Zahid Kazmi and Ghulam Sarwar also kept their focus solely on the Chaklala area and left the wards under the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board unattended.

PTI Punjab North General Secretary Zahid Kazmi admitted that many party workers were annoyed over the selection of candidates and said the party could face problems in some areas due to this resentment.

The PPP has not fared any better on this front. Zamarud Khan, who was in-charge of the party’s cantonment election campaign in Rawalpindi, was busy running the election campaign of an independent candidate in Ward 1 because the PPP did not award anyone the ticket.

PPP City Chapter President Amir Fida Paracha and other local leaders were also busy running the election campaigns of two candidates from wards 3 and 5 of the Chaklala Cantonment Board.

The party had fielded 14 candidates for 20 seats in both the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards, leaving six seats open.

“Due to divisions within the party, most party workers opted to stay home,” a senior PPP leader said.

He said that due to the differences with the local leadership, former general secretary Babu Adrees had joined the PTI because he did not want to contest elections on a PPP ticket.

He said that mostly people wanted to overhaul the local organisation for its poor performance in the 2013 elections, but some heavyweights were patronising these local leaders.

PPP City spokesman Shujaat Haider Naqvi admitted that certain local notables were campaigning for independent candidates. He said the party was facing a tough time in the garrison city and could face problems on the polling day.

The ruling PML-N too faces internal divisions. Though the Chaudhry Nisar and Chaudhry Tanveer groups joined hands to push out Hanif Abbasi from the selection process, many party workers appeared disgruntled and opted to contest the elections as independents.

In four wards, PML-N workers are contesting elections against their own party’s candidate. These candidates are Muslim Khan, Chaudhry Rizwan, Malik Khalilur Rehman Nomi and Suleman Haider Raju Shah.

Chaudhry Tanveer formed a jirga on April 8 to settle the issues between the different groups, but that did not work either. A few candidates in Ward 1 withdrew their nomination papers, but mostly remained unmoved.

“We will take action against all those who are not following party discipline and supporting candidates other than the party’s candidates in the elections,” MNA Malik Shakil Awan told Dawn.

He said that the party decided to field those candidates who were experienced in the political arena, knew the politics of the area and could be helpful to the people.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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