LAHORE: With lower and lower middle class background, most of the PPP candidates are happy to have the chance of contesting the local government elections despite having meagre resources.

Although they reluctantly agree to the impression that it a largely a two-party contest (PML-N and PTI), they are of the view their party is making an effort to somehow sustain at grassroots in the local polls.

Perhaps this is the first LG election in which the PPP has struggled to find candidates. Even those who in the past would run for the party tickets preferred to stay away or switched loyalties to get tickets of the other parties popular today.

The PPP, which tags itself as a party of the poor, awarded most local government tickets to the lower-middle-class representatives as it had no other option.

Chicken seller Mehr Liaquat and shopkeeper Muhammad Aslam, the candidates for chairman UC-240 and 236, respectively, are among the many PPP candidates who might not have the chance to contest on the top slots of the union councils had their party not been at the lowest ebb of the popularity in the city.

Interestingly, the PPP failed to find candidates for chairman slot from even the lower middle class in over 180 city constituencies. The total city constituencies are 274.

“The party awarded chairman’s slot ticket to me after our main candidate refused to contest,” Muhammad Aslam of UC-240 (Bagrian near Township) told Dawn on Tuesday.

“In fact, I got the opportunity to contest after defections from the party,” he disclosed and added after the poor results in 2013 general elections a number of party men had joined the ruling party.

Mr Aslam further said since he had no resources to invest in the election a generous party man had given him some funds to get flexes, posters and banners. He said one of the general councilors of his penal had received Rs200,000 from a ruling party candidate and withdrew in his favour.

“Apart from financial issues, we are facing such problems across the city,” he said and alleged that rival PML-N and PTI candidates were spending huge amounts of money, flouting the election commission’s code of conduct.

A young factory worker, Shahid Mahmood, who is contesting on the general councilor’s seat in Bagrian, said his area was once the PPP’s stronghold but today his party had no presence there.

“I am nostalgic about those days and want to see them back,” Mahmood expressed his wish with a suggestion to Bilawal Bhutto to woo the youth if he wanted to revive the party.

Liaquat, the chicken seller in Green Town, said the door-to-door campaign was the only option for the PPP candidates for want of financial resources.

“During the door-to-door campaign the party sympathisers promised to vote for me and other members of the panel,” he said.

PPP leader and zonal president Dr Zarar Yousuf said although the PPP had faced a lot of problems in fielding candidates on most slots yet it tried to make a combination of ‘young and old’ at others.

“We will give a good performance in some city constituencies; however, the party leadership is realistic about the results of the local polls,” Dr Yousuf said, suggesting the party leadership would have to work hard at the grass-roots level; otherwise, its survival would be very difficult.

A visit to several constituencies of the city by this reporter shows that only a ‘handful’ of PPP candidates are visible on roads through flexes, posters and banners. Most of the PPP candidates have a single election office in their constituencies, having no comparison with their opponents.

PPP Lahore Information Secretary Faisal Mir said the party had fielded candidates in 125 city constituencies.

“We have awarded most tickets to the lower-middle-class representatives, showing that the PPP is a party of the poor. On Oct 31, the PPP candidates have a contest with the affluent candidates of the PML-N and PTI. These parties have snatched the rights from the poor to contest on their party platform but we did not,” Mir said.

Zardari Factor: Most of the local PPP candidates Dawn spoke to blamed party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for the downfall of the party.

Requesting not to mention their names, they said the party’s ‘reconciliation’ policy towards the PML-N cost it dearly. The PTI filled the political space provided by the PPP because of its ‘friendly opposition’ role it played after 2013, they said.

They see Bilawal Bhutto as a ‘last hope’ for the party. They say Bilawal can revive the party provided he works hard and establishes contacts with the workers.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2015

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