LAHORE: Punjab will be the major political theatre on Saturday with both the PML-N and the PTI, the two main rivals in the province, expecting a record-breaking voter turnout in the ‘make-or-break’ elections.

The PML-N is relying on its past performance in Punjab in the province and the ‘doable’ future programme it has presented before the masses, while the PTI is banking on its chief Imran Khan’s appeal particularly to the youth.

“You’ll see a very high turnout especially in Punjab... setting a new record in Lahore,” the in-charge of PTI election campaign Assad Omar told Dawn.

“For the first time after 1988, two equal parties are going for a neck-and-neck contest in Punjab. Otherwise, it had been a one-sided show.”

He claims that Karachi will give the most surprising results and in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the PTI will be the leading force.

PML-N central leader Tariq Azeem says his party is all set to demolish both the PTI and PPP and prove its dominance in urban as well as rural areas of Punjab.

“Ours is the only tried and tested party and seeing the mammoth problems facing the country, voters will not commit the mistake of choosing inexperienced people,” he claimed.

But Mr Omar while acknowledges that his is an inexperienced party but for the elections it has prepared a proper training manual for its polling agents, although the question remains how effective it will prove to be during polling.

But he says that the rivals must not expect a 2002-like situation when even polling agents of the PTI were not there at most polling stations.

Complaints have started pouring in at election offices of both the major parties even before the start of polling. Mr Omar bemoans that they are receiving complaints regarding casting of postal ballots and the central election centre set up in Muslim Town, Lahore, is taking care of them by approaching the Election Commission.

The PML-N has objected to a talk show of a private TV channel aired on Friday evening in which a known model clad in a T-shirt carrying Imran Khan’s photograph and a pop singer said to be the brand ambassador of the PTI had been invited.

Besides registering their protest with the channel’s management, the PML-N is writing to the ECP along with recordings of the show. Mr Azeem confirms the report saying the complaint may not prove to be a remedy this time but at least it will help check repetition of such a violation of the code of ethics set for the media.

He says his party has also set up a five-member legal aid panel for each National Assembly constituency to advise legal recourse for polling-day complaints.

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif will cast his ballot at a Railway Road polling station.But Imran Khan who is hospitalised has been barred by doctors from leaving the hospital to cast his vote in Mianwali.