Faisal Town: Split in PML-N vote bank likely

PTI candidate Haji Fayyaz alleges supporters of PML-N’s Mian Arshad routinely remove his publicity material from area

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vote bank in union council 211 (Faisal Town) is expected to be divided between PML-N candidate Mian Arshad and an independent, Haji Muhammad Yousaf. Yousaf says he has been a PML-N worker but decided to contest as an independent after he was refused a party ticket.

He says he has been a resident of the area for a long time and that people know him very well. The UC includes Kotha Pind and A, B, C and C1 blocks of Faisal Town. These are around 16,000 voters registered in the UC.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Haji Muhammad Fayyaz, a former nazim, alleges that supporters of PML-N’s Mian Arshad routinely remove his publicity material from the area. He says he hasn’t yet reported the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Fayyaz says his supporters had recently caught a few youngsters removing the PTI banners from the area. They were taken to the PML-N candidate’s office but he said he had nothing to do with them, he adds. What would anyone else get out of removing PTI’s banners, he asks. PML-N’s Mian Arshad denies the suggestion that his associates are involved. About their plans for the UC, the candidates say they will work with the police to check street crime in the area.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2015.