ISLAMABAD, July 1: The October 2002 elections in the two constituencies, vacated to get Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz elected as Member of the National Assembly, were termed highly controversial by the political parties and other organizations , including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, levelling serious allegations of government interference.

So far, Mr Aziz is to be on the ballot in two constituencies of NA-229 Tharparkar-I and NA-59 Attock-III. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which did not give a clean chit to elections in Tharparkar (NA-229) in 2002, in its report entitled State of Human Rights 2002 observed: "In the Tharparkar area, the law-enforcing agencies apparently acted at the behest of influential candidates to prevent Hindus from voting, while in other cases the names of minority voters were not found on the polling lists."

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in a report on the conduct of elections in the same constituency complained that "armed gangs under the patronage of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim had captured exactly 30 polling stations and stuffed ballots in ballot boxes.

That the District Returning Officer in charge of polls in the district/constituency was also biased in favour of the candidate opposed to the PPP candidate. The entire constituency was under threat of the armed gang and the voting process had lost all sanctity."

Political demographics suggest that Makhdooms of Hala and Shah Mehmood Qureshi have a number of disciples in Tharparkar and political alliances and a joint opposition strategy is on the cards to give a tough time to Shaukat Aziz despite the fact that the Arbabs have been winning the constituency since independence whenever a call to electorate was made.

Attock NA-59, another safe seat, also became controversial when a returning officer found the district and Tehsil Nazims involved in the election campaign in 2002. It is on record that on the basis of an application, filed by the candidates, the returning officer asked the district and the Tehsil Nazims to stop attending and addressing the meetings organized by the candidates.

Moreover, during 2002 elections, the Chief Election Commissioner, Justice (Retd) Irshad Hasan Khan, was forced to leave Attock after he came under strong accusations by the PPP candidates for not taking action against the police personnel alleged to be facilitating the PML-Q women leaders.

However, Mr Aziz would be facing daunting challenges threatening his election from the two seats as a combined opposition is ganging up against him in addition to the 50 or so potential prime ministers alluded to in his party by Shujaat.