PML-N candidates find RCB contest tough going
The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) is having a hard time trying to convince voters and supporters to elect their candidates in five wards of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB).
In ward-6, PML-N’s ticket-holder Malik Mansoor Afsar is running a successful election campaign and looks in a leading position against Inaam Malik of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Waqas Ahmed of PTI and Malik Amjad Ali of PML-N are having a tough contest in ward-7 but the former looks in a leading position.
Former Vice-President Hafiz Hussain Ahmed is hopeful of his victory in the cantonment elections for the fifth time. However, PTI’s ticket-holder in the ward, Malik Abdul Kareem, has gained the support of Malik Azhar, who is considered an influential figure in the constituency. He had secured the third position in the last elections, which he contested as an independent candidate.
Read PML-N walking on a tightrope ahead of RCB polls
Ward-9 seems to be a trouble spot for PML-N, as Chaudhry Riaz Gujjar of PTI has the support of former PML-N cantonment member Shahid Mughal and other political groups in the constituency. The chances of PML-N’s Chaudhry Abdul Shakoor Gujjar look bleak in the related ward.
Further, Malik Munir Ahmed, who is a relative of former lawmakers of PML-N, is contesting in ward-10 against former PML-N member Malik Sajid Mehmood, who is fighting the election on PTI’s ticket.
The party’s former lawmakers have joined the door-to-door election campaign along with the ticket-holders in the related ward, which political analysts have termed the cantonment local bodies contest as a test case for PML-N top leadership.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2021.