CHAKWAL: In contrast to the PML-N’s winning streak elsewhere in Punjab, the independents outdid the ruling party candidates in the union council (UC) polls in the Chakwal district on Saturday.

Unofficial results gave 33 of the 68 contested UC chairmen seats to the independents, most of them belonging to the group led by former district nazim, Sardar Ghulam Abbas, against 28 of the PML-N.

While the ruling party scraped just enough to win control of the Chakwal municipality, it lost elections in the municipal committees of Talagang, Choa Saidan Shah, Kallar Kahar, Bhoun and Lawa.

This is an upset for the PML-N at a time when it has nine parliamentarians and an adviser to the chief minister from the Chakwal district. The party had swept all six National Assembly and Punjab Assembly seats from the Chakwal district in the 2013 general elections.

PTI did not come out with stunning wins. Though it did not win a single municipal seat in Choa Saidan Shah, Talagang and Lawa, local observers think it could be satisfied with the five UCs and the Bhoun municipal committee it did win.

PTI won in UCs Karsal, Bochal Kalan, Nurpur, Khairpur and Mogla. These councils, and the municipal committees of Choa Saidan Shah and Kallar Kahar fall under the constituency of Provincial Minister Malik Tanvir Aslam Awan from PML-N.

It was PML-Q’s victory over the PML-N in the battle for the Talagang municipal committee that stunned observers. PML-Q won in seven of the 12 wards. Three wards voted for the PML-N and two for independents.

PML-Q’s return as a vibrant party in the politics of Talagang city is being credited to its leader, Hafiz Amar Yasir. He had developed the city when the Chauhdrys of Gujrat were at the helm of affairs in Punjab.

Many UCs considered strongholds of the PML-N saw great upsets inflicted by candidates fielded by Sardar Ghulam Abbas. His nominee Sardar Asif defeated Sardar Taj, personal assistant to PML-N MPA Sardar Zulifqar Ali Khan Dullah in Dullah, the MPA’s native village.

Similarly, independents defeated rivals in UCs Bheen, Padshahan, Dhudial, Mangwal, Siral, Chak Malook, Sehgalabad, Bisharat, Bikhari Kalan, Balokassar, Kot Chaudhrian, Khai and Dulmial.

People from the Sukka village of Talagang boycotted the elections to protest the merging of their village with UC Leti. Polling staff waited for Sukka’s voters but none arrived.

“Our village was in UC Kot Qazi but the new delimitation put it in the far off Leti UC,” village elder Mansoor Ahmed told Dawn.

In the Dhurnal village of Talagang women were barred from voting. “It is not our tradition,” said Malik Khan Zaman, an ex-councilor of Dhurnal.

“It was a challenge to conduct the election but, by the grace of Allah, we accomplished the task successfully,” District Coordination Officer (DCO) Javed Mehmood Bhatti told Dawn.

District Police Officer Dr Moeen Maqsood reported a minor incident involving workers from PML-N and the Sardar Ghulam Abbas group in Chohan village. Two individuals were injured in the clash and two cases registered against those involved.

Sardar Ghulam Abbas appreciated that “the district administration managed the election in very appropriate manner” and thanked the people who gave voted for his group’s candidates.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2015

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