MULTAN, Sept 13: The opposition parties could not found potential candidates for the top district slots as in most of the cases in south Punjab the people from among the ranks of ruling party are seemed to be contesting against each other.
The political elements opposed to the present regime could field prospective candidates in only two, Muzaffargarh and Khanewal, of the 13 districts of this part of the country.
In rest of the 11 districts, the ruling party candidates are either poised to win over the top district slots comfortably or they are bound to face challenge from the opponents who also belonged to the ruling party. Nominations from Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi played a significant role to widen the gulf already existed among various factions, most of them based on Biradari and caste, of the ruling party in a district. The partyless election has further sharpened the strife. Critiques say that it seems that the CM has named his liking and disliking as the party policy.
The opposition has left the arena almost vacant for the ruling party nominee, industrialist Mian Faisel Mukhtar for the top slot of the Multan city district government as none from among the lot of seasoned politicians has filed nomination papers against him. Initially, it was announced that former district naib nazim Malik Amer Dogar would contest against Faisel.
But, when the deadline for submission of the nomination papers ended on Tuesday night, only Amer’s younger brother Imran Dogar and Lateef Ansar Lajpal appeared as the candidates to contest against the ruling party candidate. Lateef Ansar’s presence in the arena will be of no significance.
In Khanewal, the contest for the top district slot will be one-on-one between ruling party nominee former district nazim Ahmed Yar Hiraj and former district council chairman Syed Faisel Imam. Analysts are predicting an interesting contest between the two arch rivals as Nishat Daha, Karam Dad Wahla, Shahzad Khakwani and Mehar Zafar Hiraj might support the latter to win over his support for the top slots of Khanewal, Jehanian, Mian Channu and Kabirwala tehsils, respectively, against their rival candidates being supported by Ahmed Yar Hiraj of the ruling party.
There candidates have filed nominations for the top office of Lodhran district. They are former district nazim Abdul Rehman Kanju, Mian Shafiq Arain and Saadullah Khan. Shafiq Arain had been the nazim of Duniapur tehsil of the district and his performance viz-a-viz development of the area was said to be remarkable. He is being supported by the ruling party MNA Akhtar Khan Kanju and the PPP.
Former Sahiwal district nazim Rai Hasan Nawaz has refused to bow before the Punjab CM and he has filed his nomination against the official nominee, Kamran Ashraf Lodhi, nephew and son-in-law of provincial agriculture minister Arshad Khan Lodhi.
The CM has nominated former zila nazim Mumtaz Khan Kitchi for the Vehari district top slot ignoring his opposition from powerful local groups of the ruling party led Shahid Mehdi Naseem and Saeed Manhais. Former federal minister Shahid Mehdi is among the seven other candidates who have filed nominations against the official nominee. Analysts say that Shahid Mehdi can turn the tables on the CM’s nominee provided he may manage to win over the support of Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N, whose candidates have returned in a sizable number in the elections for union councils.
In Muzaffargarh, PPP MNA Abdul Qayyum Jatoi has given a surprise by filing his nomination for the top district slot against Tehmina Hameed Dasti, the official nominee for the office. The two other candidates who have jumped into the arena are Malik Abdul Rehman Khar and Engineer Bilal Khar. The latter is being termed the covering candidate of Qayyum Jatoi.
The panels backed by Qayyum Jatoi have fared better in Jatoi and Alipur tehsils of the district while panels baked by PPP stalwart Mohsin Ali Qureshi have produced better results in Kot Addu tehsil. He is being described as the joint candidate of ARD and is in a position to give his rival sleepless nights before the election day. However, there are reports that the government is wooing him to change loyalties and, thus, as a PPP worker put it, coming days would be the real test of Jatoi as regard to his affiliation with the party.
Analysts are predicting smooth sailing for the official candidates Mumtaz Matiana, Ali Raza Dreshak, Ghulam Haider Thind and Rafiq Haider Leghari for the top slots in Bahawalnagar, Rajanpur, Layyah and Rahim Yar Khan districts, respectively, while Jamal Leghari in Dera Ghazi Khan and Tariq Basheer Cheema in Bahawalpur will win the race but after a tough contest.