Campaign trail: PML-N hopeful uses ingenious pitch to impress voters

Naseer Kamboh, a PML-N candidate for councillor, goes door-to-door in his locality and asks for a drink

LAHORE:

A candidate from Union Council 211 has come up with an interesting way of enlisting support.

Naseer Kamboh, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for councillor, goes door-to-door in his locality and asks for a drink. “Usually, I ask for a glass of water and a little salt. When they bring it, I mix the salt in the water and then drink it,” he says. Kamboh then tells the family that having consumed salt from their house, he will prove a ‘namak halal’ for them. “I assure them that I will sincerely try to resolve their problems after being elected,” he says.



Barkat Ali, a resident of Kotha Pind Bazaar, says Kamboh had visited his family. “We will definitely vote for Kamboh. He inspired me and my family with his namak halal story. He is a simple man trying to convince people to vote for him through honesty. He is not like other candidates who make tall claims that will not be fulfilled,” he says.

Muhammad Salamat, another resident, is not impressed. “Eating salt to prove namak halali is a joke. Kamboh is a good man but his way of asserting his sincerity is a little non-serious,” he says.

Kamboh says he has received a good response from people. “I believe in door-to-door campaigning. Instead of arranging corner meetings, I try to meet people at their doorsteps,” he says. Kamboh says he wants to reassure people that he is one of them. “Through this method, I want to get votes for my party,” he says.

He was appointed chairman of Zakat Committee in 1997. “I have also been a member of Khidmat Committee in 1999. In 2001, I did not win a naib nazim seat I contested,” he says.

This time he is hopeful his new campaign style will help him get elected as a councillor.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2015.