Poll fever: Electoral activity picks up in Rawalpindi

Candidates launch door-to-door campaign, hold rallies and corner meetings

RAWALPINDI: Election campaigns by candidates of different political parties are gradually gaining momentum in Rawalpindi in the form of public gatherings and corner meetings.

Candidates from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Awami Muslim League (AML) as well as independents have set up their election offices in various localities and are holding meetings.

From the PML-N, Danyal Chaudary is competing for national assembly constituency NA-62.

Addressing a corner meeting at Bagh Sardaran, he said that the return of PML-N founder and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryum Nawaz have injected a wave of positivity to their election campaign.

He urged the party activists to launch a comprehensive door-to-door campaign to seek votes of the public.

He pointed to the accomplishments of his party during their five-year tenure including the fight against terrorism and load-shedding.

Meanwhile, AML Chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, in a corner meeting at Kataria, said that the AML and the PTI have played the role of the real opposition over the past five years, exposing the wrongdoings of rulers and their cronies.

He was of the view that if the alliance of AML and PTI came into power, they would launch a strict crackdown against the corrupt, and will not spare anyone who has looted the national exchequer — irrespective of their party affiliations — and hold them accountable.

He hoped that the PTI, under the leadership of Imran Khan, would form a new, corruption-free Pakistan, based on equality, justice and merit.

Meanwhile, PPP NA-62 candidate Sumera Gul inaugurated her central election office on Saidpur Road.

Addressing the public gathering, she urged party workers and other participants to join hands with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the betterment of the country. She claimed that neither did the PML-N during their tenure, nor AML chief Rasheed had done anything for the welfare of the city’s residents.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2018.