LAHORE, Oct 3: Voters in NA-123 (Lahore-VI) are demanding that candidates should execute development works before approaching them for support.

The constituency includes northern Lahore’s rundown, backward, poor and congested localities. It covers areas like Kot Khwaja Saeed, Tajpura, Daroghawala, Gujarpura, Baghbanpura, Bund Road, Shalimar Town, Ghorey Shah, Wasanpura, Tezab Ahata, Bukhari Park, Shadbagh, Bihar Colony, Muslim Park, Singhpura, Rahmatabad, Naseerabad, Akram Park, Sartaj Colony. As many as 262,987 voters here include 120,374 women. Small pockets of non-Muslims scattered in the area would be voting for general National and provincial seats for the first time since 1985.

Multiple problems in the area include broken roads, shabby or missing sewerage, a lack of potable water supply and absence of adequate health and educational facilities. Several localities have not even been supplied with gas.

Resentment against former legislators is pretty obvious. “None of the elected MNAs or MPAs has ever cared to solve our problems. Nothing has ever been done for the uplift of our localities. The number of people spending their nights on pavements has risen enormously in recent years,” said a resident of Baghbanpura.

Besides these problems, unemployment is also a major issue in this constituency. Candidates are bombarded with applications for jobs wherever they go canvassing.

“We have had enough of politicians who make false promises for securing our votes and conveniently forget them after getting elected to assemblies. This time we are going to vote for candidates who first execute some uplift works in the area,” several residents told Dawn during a visit to various localities of the constituency.

The area has been festooned with large banners inscribed with demands that candidates must resolve problems before approaching the voters for support.

Although facilities of education and health are not in demand locally, provision of these facilities tops the candidates’ lists of priorities.

A visit to the area revealed that a majority of residents had an indifferent attitude towards the electoral process. Some of the candidates interviewed by this scribe admitted that voters were preoccupied with their day-to-day problems rather than the election process.

Considering the complaints of voters and their indifference toward electioneering, candidates believe that the voters’ turnout on election day will remain extremely low.

With the high incidence of poverty in the area, the possibility of money playing some role cannot be ruled out. In fact, rumours against some candidates’ paying for votes are already in the air.

By opening election offices and hiring people to staff them, the candidates have been able to generate temporary employment, which, they hope, will motivate the people to visit the polling booths on October 10.

The fight for NA-123 is expected to be trilateral — between PPP’s Tariq Waheed Butt, incarcerated PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javaid Hashmi and PML-QA’s Mian Abdul Waheed.

Mian Waheed, whose party is accused of being the King’s party, is banking on official support and is alleged to be pressurizing the city government for getting development works started in the area to please the voters, who are annoyed with him because of his poor performance following election in 1993. He himself admits that “he did not do enough for his constituency”.

However, Mian Waheed claims, he did manage to get some schemes launched for the uplift of the area. However, in his own words, his efforts made no impact, as huge funding was needed to make a difference in the lives of the people of this constituency.

On the other hand, Mr Hashmi is banking on the “sympathy vote” to get to the parliament. The acting president of PML-N, who is running for the assembly from behind the bars, is said to have chosen this constituency because of having little chances of getting elected from his hometown, Multan, where he is facing former Nazim Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the PPP.

His opponents are trying to take advantage of his being an outsider as well as his inability to campaign for himself. However, his supporters claim that Mr Hashmi’s “handicaps” would prove to be an asset rather than a liability. According to them, he would generate massive sympathy as he was being victimized by the regime for standing by his leader, Mian Nawaz Sharif.

Mr Hashmi is lucky to have former student leader Akram Gujar with him in the run for PP-144. Mr Gujar is helping his jailed leader a lot. Well-known among the voters, he enjoys immense influence in the area, which is expected to help him as well as Mr Hashmi on the election day.

PPP’s Tariq Waheed Butt, a well-known figure in the area, is trying to benefit from what his supporters call a division of Muslim League’s votes between the PML-N and the PML-QA. “Our party’s vote-bank is intact whereas the League’s vote-bank is divided,” claims a local PPP activist.

Mr Butt may also be helped by Dr Ziaullah Bangash, who is in the run for PP-143. Dr Bangash, an old party worker, enjoys immense respect for his personal integrity and loyalty to the PPP. He was elected to the Punjab Assembly from here in 1988.

He would also be supported by the PPP candidate for PP-144, Mian Akhlaq Guddu, who enjoys good support in his area.

Mr Guddu revolted against the provincial leadership of the PPP in 2001, which had decided to support JI’s Hafiz Salman Butt in the election for Nazim of the City District government against PML-QA candidate Mian Amer. He fully supported Mian Amer and is said to have “tilted the balance” in the latter’s favour. What services can he render to his party’s candidate for the National Assembly remains to be seen.