BAHAWALPUR: Since the National Assembly seat of NA-172 (Bahawalpur-III) carved out in Yazman tehsil decades ago, a tough contest between settlers and archrivals from the Jutt and Arain clans has always figured here albeit with slight changes in some pockets.

The settlers belonging to both castes were in fact allotted lands in this area for free in the ‘50s by late Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V aimed at promoting farming and turning the desert into a fertile land contributing to the national economy.

The NA-172 mainly comprises fertile areas of Yazman tehsil and some areas of Cholistan. It is expected to witness a bout between PML-N’s Saood Majid Chaudhry and PML-Q’s Tariq Cheema. There are four other candidates too -- PPP’s Hamid Sufian, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Zulfiqar Ali and independents Aleemullah Warraich and Farzana Rauf. Cheema hails from Jatt biradari and Chaudhry an Arain.

In the 2013 elections, Cheema had emerged as the winner defeating Chaudhry, who was later tipped as a senator by the then party chief Nawaz Sharif.

This time, the two candidates’ party affiliations might be secondary and their biradaris could play the significant role because under a seat adjustment formula with the PML-Q, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has not fielded its candidate here.

After winning the polls in 2013 and being elected an MNA, Cheema’s aide in the area, PML-Q MPA Dr Muhammad Afzal (from the Arain biradari), had been in touch with his electorates and visiting the constituency regularly. Senator Chaudhry was also a regular visitor to the area but in his absence his nephew Saad Masood, a PML-N candidate for NA-172’s attached PP-250, was taking care of his uncle’s campaign aimed at giving a tough time to Cheema.

Cheema and Chaudhry have deep-rooted affiliation within their respective biradries as both their fathers, Bashir Cheema and Chaudhry Abdul Majid had been elected previously in the area. Both the current candidates were now vying to lure elders of the other’s biradri to dent the votes.

However, what remains to be seen is how much Cheema and Saood would be able to win over their rival biradries and how much their party affiliations would matter.

In PP-249 (Yazman-Kudwala), one of the two attached seat of NA-172, PML-N’s Khalid Jajja has seven competitors, including PML-Q’s Ehsanul Haq, PTI’s Farzana Rauf and Tehreek-i- Labbaik Pakistan’s Mehmoodul Hassan.

Jajja is a former MPA while Haq is his archrival. A tough contest is expected between them and the PTI candidate, while Jajja had an edge for being active throughout the last five years regarding allotment of land under the chief minister’s package to Cholistanis.

For the second provincial assembly seat, PP-250 (Head Rajkan-Shahiwala), Saad Masood would be confronted by Cheema’s aide, former MPA Dr Afzal of the PML-Q, as well as eight others, including PPP’s Walayat Ahmed and TLP’s Muhammad Naveed Asghar.

Despite Dr Afzal winning the seat consecutively for several terms during the previous years, July 25 would see Saad Masood giving him a tough competition.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2018