GUJRAT: The PML-N rout in the National Assembly constituency NA-69 (Gujrat) at the hands of PML-Q in the by-poll has demoralised the local party cadres which mainly blame it on the poor campaign by its candidate Imran Zafar as well as the voters’ rejection of the politics of his uncle Haji Nasir Mehmood, the mayor of Gujrat Municipal Corporation.

The PML-N candidate ex-MPA Imran Zafar was defeated by Chaudhry Moonis Elahi of PML-Q by a huge margin of some 50,000 votes. Mr Zafar could not even get 15,000 votes against Mr Elahi’s 65,000 or so.

The local ‘N’ workers are of the view that instead of proving a political asset for his nephew, Gujrat mayor became a liability for him in the last general election and the recent by-polls. Mr. Zafar who had obtained some 20,000 votes in July poll from PP-31 (Gujrat city), could not even bag 15,000 votes in the NA constituency, mainly comprising rural areas.

Many of them think that Mr Zafar ran a lackluster campaign for the by-poll that got a poor response from the voters as well as supporters, who had been complaining about shortage of publicity material. Others say that the ‘N’ candidate did not even approach the voters properly.

A PML-N union council chairman from PP-30, Kunjah area, told Dawn that Mr Zafar approached him for support only three days before the by-poll which, he said, showed lack of interest on the part of the ‘N’ nominee in the campaign.

He said because of such attitude by the candidate, nobody bothered to bring out all the voters and transport them to the polling stations, resulting in only 20 per cent turnout in NA-69. The PTI voters too did not show any enthusiasm this time, he added.

Though, the PML-Q local cadres managed to bring the voters to the polling station but the number was lower than what was witnessed in July general elections when Pervaiz Elahi had bagged some 122,000 votes.

Gujrat city turned one of the dirtiest town of Punjab in terms of cleanliness, sewerage system and other civic amenities soon after Haji Nasir Mehmood became the MC mayor in December 2016.

“His (mayor’s) poor performance has been costing the PML-N heavily in the city in the successive elections,” said Malik Naeem, a local trader, adding that until the PML-N replaced its candidates in NA-69 and two provincial assembly seats falling under it, the party could not recover in Gujrat politics.

However, a close aide of the mayor said that the senior PML-N leadership had forced Imran Zafar to contest the by-poll after ex-MNA Mubashar Hussain, who contested last two general elections on the seat, refused to be the party candidate.

He said the leadership had assured Mr Zafar of its complete support, including provision of financial resources, but none bothered to help him. He lamented that the party had also been ignoring the city while allocating uplift schemes during its last tenure in the government.

Local analysts believe that virtual absence of ‘Servis group’ of former federal minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar from local politics is also a factor in the success of the Chaudhrys and their PML-Q.

Mr Mukhtar and his family had been traditional rivals of the Chaudhrys in NA-69 for the last three decades. However, none of the Servis family contested the 2018 general elections and the situation worsened for them further with the death of Chaudhry Ahmed Saeed, the family elder last month, while there are reports that health of Ahmed Mukhtar has been deteriorating since he lost 2013 general elections.

Mr Ahmed Mukhtar had twice won from NA-69 against Chaudharys in 1993 and 2008 on the PPP ticket, who have been bagging the seat since 1970.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2018