LAHORE: Women are going to play an important role in the by-election for National Assembly constituency NA-120, Lahore -III, as all three major contestants in the race are focusing female voters.

Interestingly, two of the main political rivals have also fielded female candidates -- PML-N Begum Kulsoom Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI’s) Dr Yasmin Rashid. There is also a third woman hopeful in the arena, Sajida Mir of the PPP Workers faction.

Of 321,633 voters in the constituency, 142,128 are females.

A senior PML-N leader involved in NA-120 campaign says taking a cue from the PTI’s success in influencing female voters in the constituency back in 2013 general election, they too have mobilised their party cadre and parliamentary force to work on female voters.

Each of the 24 union councils in the constituency has been assigned to a woman MPA, particular those based in Lahore, he says, requesting not to be named.

The MPAs are being assisted by female members of local bodies as well as party office-holders while coordinators have been appointed at the ward level to daily contact womenfolk in the area through door-to-door campaign, he adds.

The same teams will work even on the polling day for mobilising female voters to come out and cast votes, he maintains.

Capitalising on its experience the PTI, which lacks in parliamentary strength in Punjab, has mobilized its women’s wing to do the needful. A PTI official claims that their women office-bearers from as far places as Bahawalpur and Islamabad are active in the form of 50 teams visiting households to contact female voters.

The official says they have an edge over arch rival PML-N for “our candidate is very much in the field and personally contacting the voters while Begum Kulsoom is away in London (undergoing cancer treatment there)”.

PPP’s Faisal Mir is also in the race for the seat. The party is not oblivious to the importance of women voters. Faiza Malik, the only party MPA, along with former MNA Samina Ghurki, Shahida Jabeen and other women wing leaders have been campaigning for Mir among womenfolk for the last 22 days, claims Abdur Rehman, media coordinator for the electioneering.

He believes that slain party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s picture is enough for attracting women voters, in general, and mobilising PPP activists, in particular.

Ironically, the Milli Muslim League (MML), political face of the Jamaatud Dawah, which once was against the very concept of democracy and never encouraged open activities of women, has also involved its women wing for its debut in the electoral politics. Yaqoob Sheikh is representing the MML in the contest for NA-120 though the party is yet to be registered by the Election Commission.

A leader of the MML says that up to 150 office-holders of the women wing, led by Umme Hammad, are active in the constituency from the day one. They have made Masjid Al-Qadisia, the headquarters of the JuD situated in the constituency, as their base camp.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017