KARACHI: Despite an improvement in flag and panaflex displays in the city just one week before the elections, manufacturers noted a 40-60 per cent decline in sales compared to the 2018 elections, attributing this drop to looming uncertainty over the holding of the general polls and a lack of orders from small political parties.

Both political parties and their candidates placed fewer orders for flags and panaflex items. Additionally, the non-issuance of the electoral symbol “bat” for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf cast a gloom on the sales of election-related items.

A panaflex maker at Al Karam Square, Liaquat-abad, S.M. Naeem, said that the business of panaflex banners had remained depressed by 40-50pc in this election compared to the 2018 polls.

Some demand had emerged just a week ahead of the polls date (Feb 8), but the orders could not match the sales flow of the 2018 elections.

Chief Executive of VIP Flags at the Paper Market, Sheikh Nisar Parchamwala, dispelled the market impression that the sales of flags had remained brisk.

“Those candidates or political parties that had not displayed flags put on display their election-related items in the last week ahead of the polls. No new orders have arrived,” he said.

He claimed that despite some parties having procured flags one month before the elections, sales had dropped by 50-60pc compared to the 2018 elections.

Mr Parchamwala mentioned that he cannot assert the actual sales volume of flags in Sindh, but it is estimated that flag sales, including panaflex banners and other items, may have ranged from Rs400-500 million, which is lower than the last elections.

He said he had suffered a loss of Rs1 to Rs1.5 million due to unsold 50,000 banners carrying PTI’s bat.

“The absence of PTI has made a significant dent to the local flag makers and other items in terms of sales,” he said.

He claimed that orders for flags from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had taken an edge over the orders from other parties.

A PPP-backed candidate for PS-130 District Central and also the chairman of Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA), Mohammad Rizwan Irfan, said that despite a limit of Rs4m for the provincial assembly candidate, he had spent around Rs1.5m to Rs2m from his own pocket for displaying banners and flags in his constituency.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2024