Candidates running for the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Municipal Corporation (RMMC) lord mayorship have started vying for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket.
Under the new municipal system, Punjab will have five metropolitan corporations — Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, and Multan — and their heads will be called lord mayors.
The PTI candidates have started navigating political waters with most of them manoeuvring their contacts in Lahore and Islamabad to get the ticket for the coveted slot.
Former MPA and former PTI District President Shehryar Riaz, former MPA and Divisional Deputy Secretary Arif Abbasi, Raja Nasir and Chairman Union Council Chaudhry Imtiaz Ahmed are among others who are vying for the party ticket to the run for the mayoral slot.
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The PTI has so far failed to gain a major victory in the local government elections of Rawalpindi. Since the mayoral election will be determined by direct public vote for the first time, candidates are sparing no efforts to get the PTI ticket before they launch a fully-fledged campaign seeking the public vote.
With the inclusion of union council Dhamial in Rawalpindi, Raja Nasir — the younger brother of the Punjab law minister — is also angling for the ticket for the mayorship.
Other PTI candidates are also making preparations to run for the mayoral race.
On the other hand, candidates of the Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Jamaat-e-Islami, which have traditionally ruled the roost in the local government politics for the last 35 years, are also actively vying for party tickets to compete for the lord mayorship.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2021.
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