Raza Block: Dissident PML-N worker challenges party nominee
They are contesting as independents against the party’s candidates to register their protest
LAHORE:
Two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers are contesting as independent against the party candidates for chairman and vice chairman seats in UC 214 (Raza Block of Allama Iqbal Town).
Amir Naseer and Tabassum Ejaz Butt say they are canvassing for votes on the PML-N Workers’ Ittehad platform. Naseer says when the local government elections were announced in 2013 he was given a PML-N ticket for vice chairmanship in the UC. His running mate was Malik Khalid Khokhar. This year, however, the party has Khokhar for chairman and Abid Hussain Arian for vice chairman.
Butt says he has been campaigning for Naseer since 2013. “Now, I can’t go to my people and tell them to vote for another man,” he says. He says he’s disappointed in party’s failure to consult workers on such decisions. They are contesting as independents against the party’s candidates to register their protest, he says.
PML-N candidate Khalid Khokhar says it was party’s decision to replace Naseer with Arain. He says he has been a nazim in the area in 2001. He is hopeful that given goodwill for him and party’s vote bank he will clinch the chairmanship on October 31.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has fielded Basharat Ali Khokhar for chairman and Sheikh Rizwan for vice chairman. Both candidates are contesting their first election.
PML-N’s Khalid Khokhar and PTI’s Basharat Khokhar are first cousins.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2015.
Two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers are contesting as independent against the party candidates for chairman and vice chairman seats in UC 214 (Raza Block of Allama Iqbal Town).
Amir Naseer and Tabassum Ejaz Butt say they are canvassing for votes on the PML-N Workers’ Ittehad platform. Naseer says when the local government elections were announced in 2013 he was given a PML-N ticket for vice chairmanship in the UC. His running mate was Malik Khalid Khokhar. This year, however, the party has Khokhar for chairman and Abid Hussain Arian for vice chairman.
Butt says he has been campaigning for Naseer since 2013. “Now, I can’t go to my people and tell them to vote for another man,” he says. He says he’s disappointed in party’s failure to consult workers on such decisions. They are contesting as independents against the party’s candidates to register their protest, he says.
PML-N candidate Khalid Khokhar says it was party’s decision to replace Naseer with Arain. He says he has been a nazim in the area in 2001. He is hopeful that given goodwill for him and party’s vote bank he will clinch the chairmanship on October 31.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has fielded Basharat Ali Khokhar for chairman and Sheikh Rizwan for vice chairman. Both candidates are contesting their first election.
PML-N’s Khalid Khokhar and PTI’s Basharat Khokhar are first cousins.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 29th, 2015.