TAXILA, March 26: With the elections fast approaching, leaders of different political parties are changing their loyalties faster than their clothes.

And all of them are making a bee line for the parties they think will do well at the hustings, as local political leaders are focused only on the possibility of winning elections and forming the next government.

Taxila has one National Assembly constituency, NA-53 (Rawalpindi - IV), and two provincial assembly constituencies PP-7 (Rawalpindi-VII which comprises the historical city of Taxila and the rural areas of district Rawalpindi including Chakri, Adyala and Sahial) and PP-8 (Rawalpindi- VIII which includes the garrison city of Wah Cantonment).

In 2008, while Nisar Ali Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League -N retained his traditional seat of NA- 53, one provincial assembly seat winner was a Pakistan Muslim League-Q candidate, Shafeeq Khan (the younger brother of Ghulam Sarwar Khan), while PP-8 was grabbed by PML-N’s Umer Farooq.

Former federal minister and PML-Q man Ghulam Sarwar Khan, who lost in 2008 to Ch. Nisar Ali Khan by 23,189 votes, has already joined Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) along with his brother Shafeeq Khan.

PML-Q’s Malik Taimoor Masood Akbar, who lost in 2008 to PMLN’s Umer Farooq in PP-8, has also joined the PTI.

Sarwar Khan has jumped ship more than once. From the PPP he went to PML-Q and has now jumped to the PTI, without suffering any negative impact on his personal vote bank.

A large number of former UC members, nazims and other influential of the area also followed in his footsteps by queuing for the PTI. A former tehsil nazim who is close to Sarwar Khan told Dawn that the police and revenue department politics made people’s lives difficult in the last five years, because of which people were looking towards a new party with hope.

Haji Dildar Khan, who has support in the rural areas of Taxila and Wah Cantonment has parted ways with the PML-N as the party has hinted that it would not give him the ticket for the provincial assembly seat.

He told Dawn that his two nephews - Safeer Khan and Sajid Zaman Khan – would contest the upcoming polls as independent candidates, adding that all mainstream political parties had failed the people. He termed the decision of Ch Nisar to contest the NA seat as well as the provincial assembly seat “un-realistic and dictatorial”.

Some others are upset by the reported decision of Mr Khan to not just get the party ticket for NA 53 but also of one provincial assembly seats of PP 7 and PP 8. The announcement, which took some people by surprise, has set off wild speculations.

He met local leaders in Taxila on Saturday in a move to bolster his support for the coming elections. Specifically, he met with Syed Riaz Shah, who is in PML-Q and contested the seat against Khan in 2002.

Some local leaders close to Riaz Shah said Dildar Khan might get the local Shia votes in the coming election.

The Shia community has significant vote bank in the area, especially in Taxila where the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Hassan Askari Syed bagged 12,550 votes in 2008.

Others are gearing up to join the PML-N which would cause serious setbacks to the PPP, PTI and PML-Q. Most of these shifts would occur because people believe that the PML-N is set to do better in the coming election than the other parties.

Sheikh Sufian Masood, a former Union Council Nazim and a close aide of Sarwar Khan, has already announced his support for the PML-N.

However, there is resentment in the PML-N ranks due to Dildar Khan’s decision to contest the provincial seat too. A case in point is Malik Missri Khan, former Vice President Cantonment board Wah Cantt, who has decades long association with PML-N.

Though he has not parted ways with the party, he has expressed his resentment over the award of party tickets. He may spring a surprise as soon as the caretaker set up takes over in Lahore.

Till then however, the PML-N dominates the national as well as provincial constituencies in Taxila and Wah Cantonment.