The announcement, made Tuesday afternoon, was received with contrasting responses by the Pakistan People Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League –Nawaz (PML-N), the main rivals in the constituency.
Raja Riaz, the senior minister in the Punjab cabinet, said that a conspiracy had been hatched against the PPP candidate, Amir Yar Waran, who was declared ineligible to contest the elections by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday. Talking to The Express Tribune on Tuesday, he said that Waran would challenge the LHC ruling in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and his wife would stay as his covering candidate. Riaz said that PPP had already won the by-election after the prime minister’s public address during his tour to the constituency last week. The ECP, he said, had postponed the by-election in light of these ground realities.
The PML-N workers on Tuesday demonstrated outside the Election Commission’s office in protest against the postponement of the by-poll in NA 184, Bahawalpur. The protesters were led by the PML-N candidate, Mian Najeebud Din Awaisy.During his address to the protesters, Awaisy criticised the election commission for being partial.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan is not free,” he said to the protesting PML-N workers. He added that the PML-N will always respect the judiciary’s mandate and accept all its decisions.
Meanwhile, workers of both the major parties took out processions in the constituency to celebrate (in case of PPP) and condemn (in case of the PML-N) the ECP’s decision.
Khalid Waran of PML-Q and independent candidates Rao Javed and Khadija Amir Waran, wife of Amir Waran, are also contesting the NA 184 by-poll.
A total of 13 candidates are in race for the National Assembly seat. The total number of voters in the constituency is 321,784.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2010.
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