LAHORE: The PPP concluded its poll canvass for the NA-122 by-poll on Friday night, hoping for its revival through getting more votes in the by-elections than it bagged in the 2013 general elections.

In the 2013 general elections, PPP’s Barrister Amir Hasan stood third with 2,832 votes.

Several dozens of diehard jiyalas were seen at Rehmanpura (Ichhra) waiting for the arrival of their leaders at the concluding rally. Side by side, party candidate Barrister Hassan continued visiting adjoining streets requesting the residents to vote him, invoking the martyrdom of Zulfikar Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and many others.

“The PPP is a real political party which doesn’t believe in the politics of commercialism,” he said.

He said he believed that the PPP, enriched with charged jiyalas, still stood by the philosophy of Bhuttos and now by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari .

Though the public meeting of the PPP was not as huge as of the PML-N and the PTI, the enthusiasm of jiyalas made it a charged crowd. The rally continued echoing with slogans “Nara-i-Bhutto, Jiay Bhutto” and “Qaum Ki Taqdeer, Benazir, Benazir”.

“We know that we will not win by-elections but this whole electioneering is for the revival of the party,” Rana Aish Bahadur, PPP worker since 1969, who had organised the public meeting, said.

Amjad Ali, a participant at the meeting, said though he was not a voter of NA-122, he was attending the meeting only to express his affection for the party and the Bhutto family.

He said regardless of election results, he would remain with the PPP.

The venue was decorated with party flags and billboards bearing with images of Benazir Bhutto.

“Everybody knows about the Nawaz Sharif Company and the Imran Khan Company,” said PPP leader Aslam Gill, addressing the workers. “They both are the spokespersons of establishment. Every one knows who brought Nawaz Sharif to power and who sent Imran Khan to Red Zone.”

He said only the PPP had been holding huge public meetings without the support of the establishment. He said Nawaz was 66 years old and Imran Khan was 64, so the 66 per cent youth of the population would only be represented by young Bilawal.

Party leaders also criticised the election commission for not taking action against the PML-N and the PTI for, what they said, spending billions in the constituency.

“As per code of conduct, a candidate cab only spend Rs1.5 million in electioneering but PML-N and PTI candidates spent Rs1.5 billion each,” Mr Hasan alleged. He also urged the constituents to vote him since he was the native residnet of the area while PTI’s Aleem Khan and PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq lived in Defnece and Gulberg. “You need to decide who will represent you well,” he said, concluding his passionate speech.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2015

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