HARIPUR, Sept, 14: With only 27 days left before the national polls are held, the electioneering in Haripur still lacks the charm and colour of the occasion for a variety of reasons.

Some observers attribute this lacklustre to the ouster of two senior parliamentarians and arch rivals, Gohar Ayub Khan and Raja Sikandar Zaman, from the electoral scene for being non-graduate. Others still doubt whether the elections will at all be held.

Still others link the lifeless pre-poll activity to the people’s disillusionment with the whole process, owing to their economic hardships that none of the previously elected failed to assuage.

Though the candidacy of Pir Sabir Shah, the provincial president of PML (N), for NA-19 Haripur, against Gohar Ayub’s son, Omar Ayub, has to an extent enlivened the rather dull electioneering in the district, the tempo is not yet what it used to be so close to the D-day.

The campaigns are confined to small corner meetings. The election offices, however, have come alive with multicolour banners, posters and lights.

There are nine candidates in the run for the seat. They are Omar Ayub Khan (PML-Q), Sardar Abdul Rauf Khan (PPP), Ghulam Nabi Khan (MMA), Mohammed Sheheryar Khan (PML-J), Abdul Hameed Khan (Tehrik-i-Insaf), Rafiq Khanzada (Independend), Khushi Mohammed Awan (PDP), Syed Waqar Hussain Shah and Muhammad Fiaz Khan.

However, the neck-and-neck fight appears imminent between Pir Sabir Shah and Omar Ayub, who are seen paying whirlwind visits to the areas of their potential supporters.

They are also addressing meetings at a small level. All the candidates are busy alluring the voters on assorted promises, ranging from initiating uplift schemes to providing modern health, education facilities and tackling the area’s joblessness problem.

The two main contenders have also started hurling allegations at each other.

Pir Sabir Shah lashed out at Gohar Ayub for his fickle loyalties and “deceiving Nawaz Sharif who elevated him to the office of NA speaker and federal minister.”

He also accused him of inking a contract with a major cement manufacturing group to serve the interests of his packaging industry in Hattar.

Gohar brands Pir Sabir a timber and atta smuggler and a “political goof”.

But voters have witnessed Ayub family and Pir Sabir Shah in power for a long time during which some of the pressing problems remained unaddressed. They can be expected to keep this fact in view when deciding who to vote.