Unlike in the plains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where excessive heat forces people to seek respite in cool shade, the alpine hill station of Abbottabad is caught in election frenzy and there is the palpable feeling that elections are just around the corner.
The politics in Hazara, which has largely been a PML-N affair until recently, has been undergoing transformation.
It began in 2013, when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf made inroads in the region, which elects 10 national and 17 provincial assembly members. In 2013, they grabbed at least four seats from Haripur and Abbottabad, while two independent winners also joined the party.
As of late, the PML-N has been in a flux. Squabbles resulting from delimitation, issuance of tickets and jockeying for power have been tearing at the seams of the largest political player in the area, but the PTI, too, is not immune to the wrath of disenchanted aspirants
