GUJRAT: The PML N’s nomination of former MPA Haji Imran Zafar as its candidate for the by-election in NA-69, Gujrat, is being termed a weak choice as well as a walkover for the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q by some senior party leaders in the district and they have also expressed serious concerns over the nomination.

A former lawmaker, belonging to the PML-N, told Dawn on condition of not to be named that Mr Zafar, though a two-time MPA from PP-31, had secured only 20,000 votes in July 25 polls due to a poor performance by him and his uncle, Mayor Haji Nasir Mahmood, during the last 10 years of the party rule in Punjab.

“Can opinion of the people change as rapidly about nephew-uncle duo within the two months of the general election that the party selected Mr Zafar to face Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, the scion of Pervaiz Elahi?” he asked and added that apart from the city’s 12 union councils, the constituency had a large portion of votes from the rural areas where the Chaudhrys had always been strong due to the backing of their Jutt clan that dominated the rural population.

Local leaders disgruntled at the party sticking to its losing candidate

He said PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif should himself look into the affairs of Gujrat district instead leaving the job to Hamza Shahbaz whose policies had already ruined the party in this district where two former MPAs Malik Hanif Awan, the district president of the party, and Ashraf Deona had already left the party.

Ashraf Rehania, the PML-N’s union council chairman, has rejected the decision of the PML-N leadership to award ticket to Imran Zafar and announced quitting the party.

Mr Rehania, a close aide to PML-N leader Chaudhry Mubashar Hussain, had joined the party after leaving PML-Q in 2015. He had also applied for the PML-N ticket for the by-poll but the party did not accommodate him. He reportedly developed contacts with the circles of the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q and might also support Moonis. However, he has not announced his future course of action yet.

Another party worker from Kunjah, the second major town of NA-69, thinks that it was not a good decision of the party to nominate Imran Zafar, particularly when there had been an alliance between the PML-Q and PTI on this seat. He suggested that any member of the Servis family of Chaudhry Ahmed Saeed, the elder brother of PPP stalwart Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, could have been a better choice on this seat against the Chaudhrys of the PML-Q as the Servis group and Chaudhrys had been the traditional rivals in that constituency since long.

The PML-N has yet got the only breakthrough in terms of winning support of a disgruntled group, led by Haji Aurangzaib Butt who had contested the July 25 polls from PP-31 independently, securing some 14,000 votes against Imran Zafar’s 20,000 and joint candidate of PTI and PML Q Saleem Sarwar’s some 51,000 votes.

The Zaib group and the mayor group of the PML-N that had been at loggerheads for the last six years but they reconciled with each other on Thursday after senior party leadership mediated between them. Mayor Haji Nasir and Imran Zafar along with PML-N MNA Abid Raza Kotla and ex-MPA Nawabzada Haider Mehdi visited the office of Zaib where announcement of reconciliation was made.

Later on, Mr Butt also accompanied Imran to file nomination papers with the returning officer where Gujrat District Council chairman Tanveer Kotla and other party leaders were also present.

Gujrat election commissioner Imran Zafar, who is assigned the duty of returning officer, told Dawn that at least 11 candidates had filed their nomination papers for the by-polls in NA-69 and they were Moonis Elahi of the PML-Q, Haji Imran Zafar of the PML-N, his brother Adnan Iqbal Makki, Afzal Gondal, his son Zeeshan Afzal, Raja Salamat Ali of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Ahmed Farhan Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed Warraich, Haroonur Rasheed, Ehsanullah Prince and Zaigham Abbas. The by-election is scheduled for Oct 14.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2018

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