Party affiliation is everything, N-League candidate says

A businessman, says he used his party influence to get electricity wires in the area checked and the streets repaired

LAHORE:

When asked if the residents of Union Council 60 were likely to vote on the basis of party affiliation or relations with candidates, Kashif Sattar, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate for chairman, says he is confident they would vote only for him.   

Sattar runs a printing business in the area. He says he had used his influence in the party to get the electricity wires in the area checked and the streets repaired.

This is Sattar’s first electioneering experience. However, he says his father is quite influential in the PML-N and well respected in the area. “He was responsible for distributing tickets in our area.”

PML-N’s vice candidate for chairman Mian Aslam Salim will also be contesting election for the first time.

Residents of the area, however, complain about streets full of potholes and no streetlights. “We have narrow congested streets and I cannot remember the last time any development work took place here,” Muhammad Hafeez, a resident of the area who has a small shop, says. He points to potholes in the street saying no repair has been done on them for as long as he can remember. “Maybe they got a main road fixed…but not this.”

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate for chairman Haji Allah Ditta, a land owner, says he is contesting the election for the first time. About the problems in the area, he says they are so many that he will stick to addressing whatever issues people bring to him. “If I am elected, I will do all I can to resolve issues that the people bring to me.”

The PTI candidate for vice chairman, Rana Khalid Mahmood, was elected a councillor in 2001 and again in 2005. At that time, he was not affiliated with any party and ran as an independent.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2015.