PHOTO: AFP
As the province gears up for the third phase of local government elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has also begun its campaign albeit with varying strategies formulated by those leadings its effort.
The party has divided the third phase districts into two groups with one set being led by provincial organizer Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar across five districts and another being led by vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi across seven. Sarwar told The Express Tribune that the party was aiming to secure 15 per cent of the seats up for grabs in the polls in accordance with its performance in the preceding phase. The expectation, however, is restricted to four of the five districts where Sarwar is leading the party’s campaign. In Jhang, the PTI is facing an uphill battle.“We couldn’t create on-field momentum there as we did in the other districts,” he told The Express Tribune. Jhang organiser Zahid Malik said while the party was strong in the tehsil, it could be in for a tough time in the district’s rural areas. Malik said the vast majority of candidates in rural areas were contesting as independents. “While we have a larger vote bank in Jhang’s urban areas, countering the feudal politics of the district will prove a formidable challenge. This is something the PTI is not accustomed to,” he said.
Sarwar alleges that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has indulged in explicit electoral malpractice. This, he says included electoral malpractice during recounting of votes. “We are out to counter any attempt to rig the polls this time around…Unfortunately, our opponents are really skilled when it comes to manipulating elections,” he said. PTI leaders in Narowal district express similar apprehensions. While the party remains confident, it is unsure of what tricks the PML-N has up its sleeve, says Narowal organiser Wakeel Khan Manj. Manj says the party has also extended support to independents who he says have sworn allegiance to the PTI.Qureshi, leading the campaign in south Punjab, says the party needs to first gain traction at the grassroots. “My objective is to ensure the party develops political infrastructure during these elections and achieves electoral experience at the union council-level,” he says.
For a party contesting LG polls for the first time, Qureshi says there is a need to understand the challenges, especially in a largely rural make up that has its own peculiar political dynamics. He rubbishes the idea of setting success rate targets at this stage. “In my view, that is something I cannot do nor am I looking at things from such a vantage point,” he says.
As for strategy, he says the PTI is not a political force that can be cowed down. The challenges he lists for the party in the south are more or less congruent with those that confront it in the central Punjab. Qureshi says the party is working on a simple mantra: stop complaining and start working.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2015.
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