BY their very nature, by-elections tend to be quiet affairs, with relatively muted campaigns and below average voter turnout. But not all by-elections are equal.

Yesterday, three seats were contested in Punjab. However, the only one that appeared to matter nationally was NA-122 in Lahore.

The reasons are fairly obvious: NA-122 was one of the four seats that the PTI had insisted was rigged in May 2013; the loser in the general election was Imran Khan; and the winner, Ayaz Sadiq, was rewarded for his 2013 success with the office of the speaker of the National Assembly.

Also read: PML-N reclaims 'Takht-i-Lahore'

All of that meant that there was intense interest, hysteria even, surrounding the Lahore by-election. So intense, in fact, that the only close approximation to yesterday’s events was the April by-election in NA-246, the MQM stronghold in Karachi that was retained by the party in unprecedented circumstances.

Given all the hype, therefore, it was only right that yesterday attention turned to the voter himself and the will of the people.

The trend in the two National Assembly seats contested yesterday appear to be in line with pre-election speculation. The Okara result, where independent candidate Riazul Haq Juj appeared in the lead, would be shaped primarily by local factors — and the inability of the PTI, PML-N or the PPP to impose party discipline and rally supporters around the party candidates.

In Lahore, a victory for Ayaz Sadiq will be portrayed by the PML-N as a validation of the 2013 general election. The more meaningful outcome though would be that the National Assembly would have been spared a potentially disruptive search for a new speaker.

To the credit of the voting public and the activists of the political parties involved, yesterday’s elections were held in a quite orderly and mostly trouble-free environment. Less salutary was the role of the party leaderships themselves, particularly of the PML-N and PTI.

While keenly fought electoral contests ought to be the sign of a healthy, vibrant democracy, there is a sense that the PML-N and PTI leaderships allowed ego and personal rivalries to overwhelm common sense and regard for the political process itself.

Over the top campaigning created a sense that yesterday’s elections were make or break for both sides, when in fact they were never going to alter the parliamentary equation or reshape the political landscape. Unhappily, the PML-N and PTI appear more keen on campaign rhetoric than the real need: electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 general election.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2015

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