Punjab, K-P polls will ‘dent' PML-N in general elections

Party leaders say elections in all provinces and Centre at same time in everyone’s best interest

LAHORE:

The elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), if they were allowed to be held, would affect the outcome of the general elections, PML-N leaders told The Express Tribune on Thursday.

They added that in case the PML-N lost the polls in Punjab to the PTI, their party would have a slim chance of fair play during the general elections.

The leaders said that was why having elections in all the provinces and Centre at the same time was in everyone’s best interest.

Background discussions with PML-N leaders revealed that it was felt that the overall situation was not conducive for the party to head into any kind of elections.

It was said that currently the party was rudderless, and needed a leader figure.

PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz had failed to make the kind of impact some in the party had hoped for.

Her narrative sounded too outdated and repetitive.

Without her father, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s return to the country, the party would stand no chance against the PTI, especially in the backdrop of the financial crisis in the country for which the current government was being blamed , the leaders said.

“If elections are allowed in Punjab and K-P, the PML-N will have little to no fighting chance,” a party leader said.

He added that taking over the government was a major mistake, but bigger blunders were made while being in power.

“It is these blunders that have dented the party’s popularity,” he claimed.

He said Nawaz was expected to come back to the country soon and his return would bring order to the PML-N.

“If elections are allowed in Punjab and K-P, not only the PML-N will have a little fighting chance, but it will also spell doom for it in the general elections, as the provincial government in the hands of the PTI will give it an added advantage,” he maintained.

Another PML-N leader conceded that Maryam's re-entry to the political arena was “beyond disappointing”.

He claimed that Maryam had failed to pull any crowd on her own.

He added that no PML-N leader was rising up to the occasion to at least try to fill the leadership void and that was even more disappointing.

He maintained that Maryam was a valuable asset in the longer run but she could not provide any short-term gains.

“There is a need to reshape the party’s narrative. The decision to forge a narrative should be made after consulting all senior party leaders,” he added.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Attaullah Tarar questioned how general elections could be held in the country when two provinces had political governments running the show.

“Nowhere in the Constitution is there any provision relating to such a scenario,” he added.

When asked if there was a constitutional provision that prevented elections in Punjab and K-P, he conceded that there were none.

However, he added that if elections were allowed to take place in Punjab and K-P, it would lead to a legal crisis.

Tarar pointed out that there was the question of a digital census.

He said the NFC's decisions taken during the PTI’s tenure dictated the need for a digital census for the general elections.

He added that if elections were allowed in Punjab and K-P now, that would mean the polls for the provincial assemblies there would be held on the basis of the old census.

However, he added that the elections for the National Assembly seats in Punjab and K-P would be conducted on the basis of the new digital census.

To a question, he said that no constitutional provision in particular prevented the polls from taking place on this basis. He added that this matter would be decided by the court.

PML-N provincial leader Mian Marghoob said the biggest problem with these elections would be of fairness -- first during the provincial polls in Punjab and K-P, the losing side would accuse the federal government of interfering with the electoral process.

He added that later the losing side in the Centre in the general elections would also blame the federal government.

Punjab, the most populous province, has the most number of NA seats.

The PML-N’s fear revolves around the fact that as Punjab has 141 general seats and K-P 45 of the total 266 in the NA, if the PTI clinches the governments in these two provinces, it will increase its chances of securing a white-wash victory over it.

This will mean that losing provincial elections would dash the PML-N's hopes of forming a government in the Centre even after forging an alliance with all the remaining parties.