THE campaign for the by-election in Lahore’s National Assembly constituency NA-122 came to an end midnight Friday with the PTI and PML-N holding large public gatherings to show their strength and popularity in the area.
The PPP candidate, Barrister Amir Hassan, who many say is fighting a losing battle, concluded his campaign by taking out a rally in different parts of the constituency.
The polling for the seat, which fell vacant after an election tribunal’s decision against PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, who held the office of the speaker of National Assembly, is scheduled to be held on Sunday.
Mr Sadiq has thrice won from the constituency since 2002, twice defeating PTI chairman Imran Khan — in the 2002 and 2013 polls.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dropped his plans for taking part in the election campaign for Mr Sadiq while the PTI chief gave maximum possible time to campaigning for his man Abdul Aleem Khan.
The campaign for the Oct 11 by-election will be remembered as one of the loudest and most expensive for any constituency as both the PTI and PML-N are using all the available resources to win.
The language used by the rivals and allegations levelled against each other have deepened the tension between the supporters of the two major parties, raising the tempers that have already resulted in a couple of minor clashes between their workers.
A report submitted with election authorities has identified 12 places in the constituency where bloody clashes are feared on the polling day.
Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015
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