PTI faces tough competition in RMC mayoral election

Rawalpindi mayor will be picked through direct vote

RAWALPINDI:

Mainstream political parties have started preparations to grab the coveted seat of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Municipal Corporation (RMMC) in the upcoming elections under the new local body system in Punjab. The mayors of all metropolitan corporations across Punjab will be elected by direct votes in their respective constituencies.

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.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami candidates will have neck and neck contests in the election.

All four parties will go to great lengths to secure the seat of the RMC mayor.

Former PML-N mayor, Sardar Naseem Khan, Sajjad Khan, Sheikh Arsalan Hafeez and Zia will run for the mayorship of the garrison city in the party-based local body elections scheduled to be held in May 2022. Allah Shah (former MPA) PTI and Awami Muslim League's Arif Abbasi (former MPA), Sheikh Rashid Shafiq (MNA), Shehryar Riaz (former MPA) PPP's Babar Sultan Jadoon, Malik Anjum Farooq Paracha Raja Altaf Hussain (Former Deputy Mayor), Mian Khurram Rasool, Raza Ahmad Shah of Jamaat-e-Islami are the expected candidates for the mayor’s seat.

These candidates have started election campaigns by socialising with the people of the constituency on different occasions. In the new local government system, the mayoral candidate will have to be elected by direct votes.

Opposition parties in Rawalpindi also opened the option of forming electoral alliances between them for victory in the upcoming election.

In the first phase of the local body elections, the PTI has won only two out of 19 seats in the Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantonment Board. In the last party-based elections, the PTI could grab only two seats out of 46 union councils of the Rawalpindi city and Chaklala. The PTI is under immense psychological pressure after showing poor performance in the last local government election.

Now, the PTI is looking for electables and alliances due to the anti-government public opinion after it has badly performed over three years.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2022.