Parties forsake post-election cleanup

Where political workers exhibit a great deal of enthusiasm while distributing and hoisting promotion material during their party’s campaigning drives, precedent shows that this momentary zeal is lost soon after the wrap-up of the elections, when those same workers and contesting candidates refuse to take responsibility for the torn banners and flapping posters of their leaders, which become landmarks in the city for years to come.

Even though high inflation and transformed publicity practices have downsized the scale of on-ground publicity campaigns to some extent, the inherent fervor among all political parties and independent candidates for winning a seat in the 16th National Assembly, has still fueled a sizeable publicity drive in the port city, with a wide variety of banners, posters, flags, leaflets and polling cards being
produced in preparation of the elections. However, similar to the case with previous elections, the General Elections 2024 too have raised anticipation among the citizens, who despise imagining the state
of their beloved city after the elections are over, when no political party would display a grain of willingness to remove the promotional material, which badly defaces public property.

“It is the responsibility of all political parties to remove the promotional material which destroys the beauty of Karachi” said a female citizen, who further beseeched the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take to task all parties which failed to clean up their campaigning mess after the elections."

Concurring with the local, Muhammad Nasir Khan, a social leader, also felt that once the elections were over, no political party paid any attention to the removal of the publicity material. “These advertising materials remain displayed in public places for several weeks and months, after which they collapse and fall on the road, leading to accidents,” observed Khan, who also opined that eventually such a large number of posters and banners could end up obstructing drainage lines.

Khan’s concerns were validated by manufacturers of publicity material like Syed Zubair Ahmed, who confirmed that this time around political parties and independent candidates were investing in massive flags, handbills, leaflets, portraits and banners.

Read: Removal of political banners from bridges, hoardings ordered

“The nine by three feet cloth banner is the most popular choice among parties at the moment. The rate of each banner varies between Rs700 to Rs900 and most of these are being sold across Liaquatabad, Al-Karam Square, Pakistan Chowk and Korangi,” revealed Hamza, another manufacturer of banners.
According to Naveed Saeed, also a publisher of campaigning material, almost all political parties and independent candidates are preparing nine by six inch handbills. “These handbills and pamphlets carry the introduction and manifesto of the candidates. They are being distributed across mosques and other public places,” said Saeed, who further added that 1,000 pamphlets and handbills cost a maximum of Rs2,500.

Similarly, Faizan, a flag maker, said, “Each two by three feet flag is being produced for Rs300 to Rs500.”
On the other hand, Iftikhar Ahmed, a printer of polling cards, claimed that even though campaigning was still big on the parties’ agenda, the usage of polling cards had decreased. “Each polling card is printed for Rs3 to Rs5,” he added. Ahmed’s evaluation was supported by Muhammad Zohaib, a member of various election campaign events, who noted an overall shift in the campaigning strategies of political parties in Karachi. “Organizing big rallies is not a priority this time around.

Most parties are now preparing social media portraits to run their election campaigns online. This portrait contains photographs, election symbols, brief introductions and manifestos of their candidates for the national and provincial assemblies,” shared Zohaib, who added that each portrait cost between Rs300 to Rs500.

On a similar note, Kashif Khan, who is associated with campaigning for the General Elections in Karachi, cited rising inflation as another factor which has altered the campaigning drives. “The prices
of materials used during the promotional campaigns have increased by 180 to 200 per cent. Therefore, this time around political parties and independent candidates are not campaigning in the same way as
they did during the 2008, 2013 and 2018 General Elections,” said Kashif. Sharing their insights on the matter, Syed Aminul Haq and Waqar Mehdi, the respective representatives of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) concurred that rising inflation had
raised the expenditures on campaigning this time around.

“This time we are running a full-fledged public contact campaign in Karachi, in accordance with the ECP’s Code of Conduct,” maintained Hafiz Naeemur-Rehman, candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi. Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, Syed Nadeem Haider, ECP’s cen-
tral spokesman said, “All publicity material will be monitored by our teams. All parties have been asked to remove the publicity material immediately, once the elections are over.”