NA 149 constituency: Javed Hashmi humbled in Multan by-elections

Concedes his traditional seat to an independent candidate supported by PTI.

MULTAN:

Veteran politician Makhdoom Javed Hashmi on Thursday faced a historic by-election defeat as he conceded his traditional National Assembly seat (NA-149) to an independent candidate supported by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The rout was all the more telling as it came despite support of many religious and political parties, including the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Hashmi had relinquished the seat after he left the PTI following his disagreement with party chief Imran Khan.

Amir Dogar, the PTI-backed candidate, won with a comfortable margin of 14,000 votes, polling 52,321 votes against Hashmi’s 38,393 votes, according to the official results, announced by the regional election commission. In a distant third place came Javed Siddiqi of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) who secured 6,289 votes.

Returning Officer Muhammad Shahid told media that the “official pamphlet [regarding the election result] will be issued on Friday (today).”

In the run-up to the 2013 election, the NA-149 seat in Multan was considered a hub of the PML-N and the political bastion of Javed Hashmi, who has an impressive record in the constituency.

Last year, Amir Dogar had contested the same National Assembly seat against Javed Hashmi and was at the receiving end of a bruising loss. Dogar secured only 20,719 votes against Hashmi’s 83,640 votes.

Polling opened at the appointed hour, ie, 8:00am and continued more or less smoothly till 5:00pm. Some 286 polling stations were established for almost 350,000 voters. Voter turnout was only 29% as compared to the 2013 elections in which the turnout was estimated at 61%.

Talking to The Express Tribune after the announcement of result, Javed Hashmi said he had accepted the result. “Now I will go abroad for medical treatment. I am not rejected by the people but by the corrupt political parties of Pakistan. I will continue my struggle for the people of Pakistan,” he said.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the PTI’s vice chairman, interpreted the by-poll result as a game changer in the politics of Multan, forecasting that it would give rise to a tsunami alert in Pakistan.

“Everyone is aware that all religious and political parties of Pakistan had supported Javed Hashmi against the PTI-backed candidate, but they failed in getting him elected,” he said.

Qureshi said people wanted change and they had given a verdict while the Rs3 billion spent by Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif for Hashmi’s victory were squandered before the power of the people of Pakistan. During the by-poll ECP strictly followed the rules and removed the banners and camps of the contestants at 23 locations.

Despite monitoring of election commission authorities, Multan’s district administration was accused of facilitating Hashmi and vehicles bringing voters for Hashmi were found in Multan’s Circuit House.

DCO Multan Zahid Saleem, however, refuted the allegations and said they had maintained merit and transparency. “No official of the district government has interfered in the by-elections,” he added.

The PML-N’s women polling agents in government girls’ high schools were also accused of forcing female voters to vote for Hashmi. The PML-N lawmaker Sultana Shaheen brushed aside the allegations though. In some parts, the PML-N’s polling agents also pulled down polling camps of the PTI-backed Amir Dogar.

The PML-N’s district president Bilal Butt also alleged that presiding officers in some polling stations stamped for the PTI-backed candidate.

Four companies of Rangers were deputed during the election today whereas 3,400 police personnel were on duty. There were 90 polling stations, which were declared sensitive.

The voting pattern at NA-149 remained similar to that of the 2013 elections as the winning margin continued to be more or less the same. Last time, the two top contestants had respectively got 83,000 and 73,000 votes and the PTI had won with a margin of 10,000 votes.

The PTI has managed just to retain this small margin despite having a strong PPP-renegade candidate, its own strong political campaign and ‘the huge’ recent rally.

Special ink used in by-poll

The ECP has claimed that it has used a special ink in NA-149 Multan by-polls for thumbprint impressions on the ballot’s counterfoils. The ECP officials said the ink is different from the magnetic ink used in the 2013 general elections. They claimed that the new ink would make it possible to verify every ballot cast in the polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2014.