Photo finish: In NA-55, two-horse race going down to the wire

Sheikh Rashid, Shakeel Awan in close contest; infighting among PML-N may cost seat.

RAWALPINDI:

The tough fight expected between Malik Shakeel Awan and Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in NA-55 just got tougher, as the former’s party has failed to sort out differences among its own members, diverting voters to Rashid in the process.

There are 324,021 voters in NA-55, 139,891 (43 per cent) of whom are female. The constituency includes Dhok Ratta, Faizabad, Satellite Town, Liaqat Bagh, Raja Bazaar, Moti Mahal, Dhok Mohan Pur and other areas, with most of the voters split along ethnic lines. There are five major clans in the area — Rajput, Pathan, Butt, Qureshi and Sheikh. Of these, Sheikh and Qureshi are supporting Rashid, while Rajput and Butt supporters are with the PML-N. The Pathan vote is split.

Elections 2008 results

In the 2008 elections, Javed Hashmi won the seat with 76,980 on a PML-N ticket, beating out Malik Amir Fida Paracha of the PPP’s 37,397 votes, while Rashid got only 15,780 votes. Hashmi also won a seat from Multan and resigned from NA-55, leading to a by-election, in which the PML-N’s Malik Shakeel Awan won by garnering 63,888 votes against Rashid’s 42,000 votes.

Differences in the PML-N

The poor performance of Awan during his term in office seems to have cost the party a number of votes, while the growing national popularity of Imran Khan’s PTI and the subsequent alliance with Sheikh Rasheed might explain where those votes are going.

“I am a PML-N supporter, but I won’t vote for Malik Shakeel Awan. We have never even seen this man since we voted him into power,” said Muhammad Ramzan, a prayer leader at a mosque in Moti Mahal.

“Except for a few flyovers, no major project has been launched in the constituency,” Ramzan said.

The PML-N has also lost its grip on the constituency due to differences between Chaudhry Nisar and Sheheryar Riaz.

The party seems to be split four ways — one group is led by Sardar Naseem, another by Haji Pervaiz, the third by Shaheryar Riaz, and a fourth group loyal to Hanif Abbasi and Nisar.

Nisar, who is also contesting from PP-6 as an independent candidate, forced Sarfaraz Afzal, nephew of Chaudhry Tanveer (a PML-N leader), to withdraw his nomination papers, further annoying the latter’s supporters, who have now decided to vote for the PTI candidate.

“The PML-N is also facing stiff resistance from the supporters of Shaheryar Riaz, who had been asked to withdraw his nomination papers. His supporters staged several protests against the party leadership’s decision. “He once joked with his friends that he was going to join the PTI, for which the party punished him,” said Asghar Shad, a senior journalist.

“Riaz never ignored us. We always find him among ourselves whenever we need him,” said 60-year-old Chaudhry Sarfaraz, a PML-N worker.

“He was an MPA, but delivered far better than Awan. He deserved to be given party ticket,” said Sufian Qureshi, a post-graduate student at Arid Agriculture University.

Meanwhile, Sardar Naseem who is contesting from PP-12, was demanding an MNA ticket for the last several years but only got one for the provincial assembly.

Hafiz Abdullah Butt had very close relations with the Sharif brothers and had been promised a ticket from NA-55, but was ignored.

Further compounding things is the fact the PML-N started its electioneering campaign very late, as district leaders were busy “sorting things out”, which the Liaqat Bagh gathering on May 8 would suggest was code for infighting, as neither Sheryar Riaz showed up nor Sarfaraz Afzal.

Internal sources said that Nawaz Sharif asked Chaudhry Tanveer to attend the gathering while he and Nisar would visit his house as a mark of respect.

But Nisar left the gathering a few minutes before Nawaz Sharif’s speech, and neither of them visited Tanveer’s house, adding to his annoyance.

On the other hand, there are claims of Sheikh Rasheed gaining substantial ground in his election campaign along with the support of PTI workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2013.