Following Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi’s move to dissolve the provincial assembly after surprisingly securing a vote of confidence, the Rawalpindi District Election Commissioner has formally started preparations to hold elections.
With this, political activity in the district has begun touching new heights. Major political parties and their workers have begun political campaigns with a renewed commitment to winning over the garrison city’s 15 provincial assembly seats.
Meanwhile, candidates have started opening election offices and public outreach campaigns.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) seem to play on the front foot in their campaigns, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are apparently adopting a go-slow policy.
Sources said the PTI has issued instructions to all its former provincial assembly members in the Rawalpindi district to vigorously undertake the election campaign.
Meanwhile, the former ruling party has hinted at issuing tickets to party members who have stood by the party narrative following the fallout in the wake of the vote of no confidence against former prime minister Imran Khan.
Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi confirmed to The Express Tribune that the PTI has started a campaign in all provincial constituencies across the district since Friday.
It is worth noting here that the Rawalpindi district has seven national assembly seats and 15 provincial assembly seats while the PTI was holding all the provincial seats.
Owing to this, the party is unlikely to change the candidates for the upcoming elections in the Rawalpindi district.
Moreover, fresh delimitations have changed the numbers of the national and provincial constituencies. The provincial constituencies of the Rawalpindi district have also been re-arranged and their structures have also changed. Now the national assembly constituencies in Rawalpindi district will start from NA-51 and end at NA-57.
The numbering of provincial seats of the district will now start from the Attock district. The provincial constituency of the Rawalpindi district will now start from PP-6 and end at PP-20.
The new voter list of all of the constituencies has also been released.
Initiating its political activities, the JI has officially announced the candidates for all the national and provincial assembly seats of the Rawalpindi district. Whereas, the PTI has issued instructions to all its members to start their campaigns. However, PML-N and PPP are still waiting for a kick-start.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2023.
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