UC 69 Mozang: PTI fields man twice elected on PML-N ticket

LAHORE:

Union council no69 is one of the two UCs carved out of what used to be UC-79 – a PML-N stronghold in Mozang. Tariq Feroze, who owns an electronics businessman in Abid Market, had been elected nazim from the UC in 2001 and 2005 on a PML-N ticket. This year, he is contesting for the chairman’s seat on a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) ticket.

On this recent change of loyalties, he says his association is with the people of the area, not with a particular party. “I have to choose a platform that lets me work for my people,” he says. He says past performance determines victory in local government elections. “People vote for those who have delivered in the past, and who can be relied on for future benefits. Loyalty to a party does not get one very far,” he says.

The union council – officially identified as Sir Ganga Ram UC – includes neighbourhoods along Panj Mahal Road, Waris Road, Chiragh Din Road, Lytton Road and Temple Road. The national assembly and provincial assembly seats that includes the UC were won by the PML-N in 2013 and 2008.

Feroze says improvement of drainage and sanitation systems are high on his agenda. His main opponent Shams Baig says he is a PML-N worker but is contesting the election as an independent candidate. Baig had won general councillor election in the UC in 2001 and 2005. “Parties don’t award people based on their work. I was sidelined by the party so I decided to contest as an independent candidate,” he says.

Besides improvements in the sewerage and drinking water, he mentions installation of streetlights in his agenda.

There are three other independent candidates and a PML-N ticket holder in the run for the chairman’s seat.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2015.