The city that many invaders tried to conquer is now up for grabs once again, as PML-N and PTI go head-to-head once more to claim Lahore.
But much like the city of Karachi, whose electoral constituencies have been manoeuvred through “chicken necks” — winding and irrational boundaries — the city of Lahore, too, is seeing great change to the constituencies it last knew.
And while Nawaz remains sidelined, it is how the new constituencies have been cut that is a matter of great intrigue.
Aside from political polarisation, the city is also increasingly divided along class lines.
On the peripheries of the city, the difference between the class backgrounds of constituents becomes obvious. Most of these localities still have some rural component — either in terms of land or in terms of social attitudes.
Lahore’s voting patterns show that more people are joining the electoral process than before. The question now is which party stands to benefit the most when new voters enter the polling process proper. This, however, is a game of little margins and swing votes.
Read Ahmed Yusuf's in-depth piece on the battle for Lahore here.
