Live: Elections 2024

A widely circulated post on social media platform X gained traction on Sunday, with the claim that armed PML-N workers opened fire on a Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) election office in Lahore and killed a number of people. However, no one was killed in the incident.

According to fact-checking platform iVerify Pakistan, a post was circulating on social media platform X a day ago with the caption: “In response to the shoe attack on Hamza Shahbaz after committing the worst injustice against the worker of TLP, PML-N leader Ghazali Saleem Butt and others fired at the TLP office in Lahore’s Badami Bagh and martyred political workers.”

However, the actual number of TLP workers allegedly killed was not mentioned in the post. A photograph of an individual wearing a red jacket laying on the ground with his eyes closed and blood near his head was also shared with the post.

The post received over 300,000 views and 3,800 shares.

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Announcing that the printing of ballot papers for upcoming general elections will be completed by Feb 2, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has said it has started dispatching ballot papers to respective districts by air and by road with the help of security personnel.

The ECP’s spokesman, Syed Nadeem Haider, in a statement said that preparations for Feb 8 general elections had entered the final phase. He said that the printing of ballot papers underway at three government printing press institutions is satisfactory.

“The printing work, which started on January 16 after the allotment of election symbols by respective returning officers (ROs), will be completed in the next 4 days i.e. by February 2,” he said.

The spokesman said that with the help of security agencies, returning officers and the district administration, the delivery of ballot papers has started to the four provinces.

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When inflation-hit and poverty-stricken voters head to polling stations on February 8, after nearly a month of hearing lofty campaign promises designed by parties vying to come to power, they may be forgiven in hoping for better days.

The reality, however, is that they would be sorely disappointed. The plate of economic and fiscal challenges is full and the caretakers have been able to clear only a tiny part of the backlog.

It certainly won’t be a bed of roses for any political party or coalition to rule the country — economically battered and politically bruised by adventures and missteps of the past decade.

In fact, healing these deep economic and social wounds may be a long and arduous process, provided the incoming administration works towards that goal, and voters themselves are willing to absorb more shocks for the sake of better things to come.

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Days af­­ter the belated test trial of the new Election Mana­g­e­ment System (EMS), the PPP has raised alarm over the plan.

In a letter to Chief Elec­tion Commissioner Sikan­dar Sultan Raja, head of the PPP central election cell Senator Taj Haider brought to notice, his party’s serious objections to the introduction of a completely new and un­­familiar application (EMS Mobile App) for electronic transmission of results.

“We apprehend that a situation similar to that of the failure of RTS in 2018 elections can emerge which like the general elections 2018 will be used for massive rigging of the results bes­ides causing long delays in compiling of the provis­i­o­n­­al results by the ret­urn­ing officers,” the letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, reads.

The letter points out that the EMS application was a completely unfamiliar app supposed to be used for the first time in general elections.

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The PTI has alleged that affiliation with the party and carrying its flag had become a crime in the country.

Speaking at a press conference, PTI core committee member Shoaib Shaheen said the party had on Jan 28 announced holding peaceful rallies across the country, but law enforcement agencies launched a crackdown on them and a number of arrests were made.

Advocate Shaheen, who is contesting the election from NA-47 (Islamabad), said the party candidates were not being allowed to hold even corner meetings in Islamabad and other places in the country. He said PTI leader Raja Qaiser Ghaffar decided to hold a meeting at his house in Islamabad, but police entered the home.

“We are not getting a level playing field, but this attitude is triggering reaction among the masses and creating a soft corner in the hearts of people. The current situation was not even observed during the martial law regime. I appeal to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa to intervene and stop the worst rigging. Otherwise, the Supreme Court will be held responsible for that,” he warned.

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Fuelled by boastful claims that its leader is set to secure the chief minister’s slot following the February 8 general elections, Pervez Khattak’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P), a breakaway faction of the Imran Khan-founded PTI, is vying for dominance in the bustling political arena of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

With the rumoured backing of the country’s powerful establishment, Khattak is peddling his vision across public jalsas and private meetings. Yet, the PTI-P has struggled to attract the electables necessary to make Khattak a formidable contender for the coveted position.

Despite events orchestrated to amplify the significance of each new joiner to Khattak’s ranks, the reality is stark: electables are not flocking to the PTI-P as anticipated, leaving the party to scramble for notable candidates to field.

The party’s ambition is mirrored by the burgeoning force of Jahangir Khan Tareen’s Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), another group birthed from the original PTI, navigating its first political storm in Punjab.

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Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi, the last ceremonial Bahawalpur Nawab of former Bahawalpur State, is still undecided to extend support to any of the candidates for NA-165.

The main contestants for the seat want the support of Nawab Abbasi to win the seat. Potential winners are Chaudhury Tariq Bashir Cheema of the PML-Q and Saood Majid Chaudhry, an N-Leaguer who is presently contesting as an independent.

Under an arrangement with PML-Q chief Shujaat Hussain, the PML-N high command did not issue a ticket to Majid to accommodate Cheema. However, Saood Majid decided to have a solo flight against his arch-rival, Tariq Cheema.

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A shoe was hurled at Punjab’s former chief minister and PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz during a rally in Lahore’s NA-118 constituency, from where he is contesting the election.

During the rally at the Delhi Gate area of the old city on Saturday, a young man hurled a shoe at Hamza, which hit his shoulder.

Immediately after the incident, the PML-N workers overpowered the man who hurled the shoe at their leader and gave him a sound thrashing before handing him over to the police.

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The PML-N candidate from NA-94 (Chiniot), Qaisar Ahmad Sheikh, was slightly injured on Saturday during a public gathering in Chiniot, after being hit by a “stone” thrown at him by an unidentified man, who immediately fled the scene after the attack.

As per eyewitnesses, Sheikh was addressing an election-related gathering at Rajoa Chowk, in the city when an object thrown by an unidentified man hit his head, leaving him with an injury.

He was later taken to the Islamia Hospital, where his wound was dressed. Police are investigating the incident.

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Former governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar has withdrawn in favour of the PML-N candidate for Muzaffargarh’s NA-180, Malik Abdul Khaliq Khar (his nephew).

Khar was earlier a candidate for the NA seat, and his nomination papers had been approved. However, on Saturday, he withdrew in favour of PML-N’s Malik Abdul Khaliq Khar.

Now, Khaliq Khar is the main contender against Malik Ghulam Raza Rabbani Khar, who is a PPP candidate for NA-180. Both candidates are stepbrothers, sons of the late ex-MNA Malik Ghulam Noor Rabbani Khar.

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Asif Ali Zardari was born in 1955 to a well-known Baloch family from Nawabshah, Sindh. He married Benazir Bhutto, who later became Pakistan’s first female prime minister, in 1987.

Zardari’s initiation into politics was not very successful but his career began to take off after his marriage to Benazir. In both her governments, he was appointed federal minister — first with the portfolio of environment and later with that of investment.

In 1990, he was accused of tying a bomb to a businessman’s leg and sending him into a bank to withdraw cash from his account as a pay-off. The charge was never proven and Zardari was released after spending three years in prison.

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Once dubbed the establishment’s “blue-eyed boy”, former prime minister Imran Khan finds himself on the sidelines, with his nomination papers for the 2024 elections rejected, and his party in tatters.

Born in Lahore in 1952, Imran first rose to fame as a cricketer, leading the national side to its only ODI World Cup victory in 1992. Following his retirement from the sport, in addition to ramping up his philanthropic activities, he founded the PTI in 1996 but only saw limited political success till 2011, when he started gaining the attention of youth disillusioned by massive corruption and an unemployment crisis.

Following the 2013 elections, Imran alleged widespread rigging, leading a months-long sit-in in Islamabad in protest, but called it off after the deadly attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.

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Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui is focusing on Karachi’s development in the run-up to the February 8 polls, bent on ending the PPP’s 15-year-long rule in urban Sindh, one which he has termed a “nightmare”.

A former deputy convener of the united MQM, a former chief of the All Pakistan Muttahida Student Organisation (APMSO), and a former leader of overseas wings, Siddiqui has risen through the ranks and has ample experience when it comes to leadership.

Following the decision to move away from Altaf Hussain after August 22, 2016 — which was taken by Siddiqui, Farooq Sattar, and Amir Khan following Hussain’s vitriolic “anti-Pakistan” speech and the attack on media houses by MQM activists — Siddiqui was elected as the deputy convener of the party.

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As the PPP eyes revival in Rawalpindi, a large number of supporters thronged the Liaquat Bagh on Sunday to attend a political gathering organised by the political party as a part of its election campaign.

The participants and PPP leaders claimed that the gathering was bigger than the one held by the PML-N on Saturday.

In fact, this public meeting was bigger than the ones organised by the PPP in the 2013 and 2018 elections, they said, adding that still with a little more effort, the rally could have been a “massive power show”.

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As the political environment is highly charged in the country with political parties making their canvassing efforts, PTI supporters clashed with police in different parts of Rawalpindi where the PPP was holding a public rally at Liaquat Bagh on Sunday.

Police took more than 25 workers of the PTI into custody for violating Section 144 and offering resistance to the police in maintaining law and order.

In response to PTI’s founder Imran Khan’s call to hold rallies across the country as part of the electioneering campaign, the party’s supporters appeared on roads in Gulzar-i-Quaid, Saidpur Road, Gorakhpur, Chak Bailee, Adiala Road, Dhamial and Jatli and tried to hold rallies.

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Scores of working-class residents and representatives of katchi abadis from across the twin cities gathered in the rural locale of Alipur on Saturday to declare their support to Awami Workers Party (AWP) candidate Iqbal Jahan who is contesting from NA-47 (Islamabad II).

The announcement was made on the basis of AWP’s long history of being the only political party in the federal capital which had consistently opposed evictions of katchi abadis and struggled for basic amenities in working-class neighbourhoods in the face of the anti-poor, elite-centric and ecologically destructive policies propagated by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and mainstream bourgeois politicians.

AWP leader Dr Aasim Sajjad said working-class residents of the federal capital were regularly subjected to demolitions of their homes and livelihoods in the name of clearing ‘encroachments’.

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Politics in Talagang has witnessed a dramatic turn as Sardar Mumtaz Khan Tamman, a former MNA of the PML-N, along with his group announced support for the candidates of the PTI.

For the upcoming general elections, Tamman due to his old age fielded his maternal grandson Sardar Shahroz Khan Tamman who was among the aspirants of PML N’s ticket from NA-59.

But instead of awarding tickets to Shahroz Khan and Sardar Mansoor Hayat Tamman (who also remained MNA of PML-N three times), the PML-N took a risk by awarding the ticket to Sardar Ghulam Abbas who sought a ticket for NA-58 (Chakwal), not for NA-59 (Talagang).

Shahroz Tamman, who earlier announced to contest elections as an independent candidate, has now withdrawn from the electoral battle in favour of PTI’s candidates.

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More than a week after the PML-N stepped up its election campaign, the former ruling party failed to put up an ‘impressive’ power show in Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh ostensibly due to bad weather and the party’s local chapter’s alleged failure to whip up support ahead of the gathering.

The public meeting on Saturday was addressed by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, who hardly spoke for 10 minutes on the occasion. According to Shehbaz, if voted to power, his party would initiate development and social welfare projects in the garrison city.

Some party supporters believed the absence of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz, both considered crowd pullers, also dampened the enthusiasm of the PML-N workers, who were present in significant numbers but less than what the party had expected.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the president of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal), asserted during a public meeting in Sariab that his party is determined to thwart attempts by certain forces to treat Balochistan as a ‘commodity for sale’.

He emphasised the power of the vote to defeat those who seek to divide the province through empty slogans. Speaking at the BNP’s election campaign event on Sunday, Mr Mengal warned that any manipulation of election results would be a ‘severe blow’ to democracy.

Addressing the crowd, he, along with other BNP leaders, including Senior Vice President Sajid Tareen, Agha Hassan, Mir Maqbool Lehri, Akhtar Hussain Langove, Ghulam Nabi Marri, Shumalia Ismail, and Shakeela Naveed Dehwar, stressed the party’s commitment to continuing its democratic struggle despite the imposition of Section 144 in Quetta.

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The Islamabad police have demanded Rs300 million to bear the expenses of the election duties.

Police officers told Dawn that the police requested the interior ministry for funds of Rs 300 million to bear the expenses of the security duties during the election from February 7 to 9.

The amount is demanded to cover the expenses of meals for the officers and officials of the Islamabad police who will be deployed for security duties during the upcoming elections, they said, adding arranging vehicles and fuel for pick-up and drop-off for the officers, from a designated place to polling stations and other duty points.

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Two people have been injured in a grenade attack on the election offices of the National Party and PPP in Mastung and Mangochar areas, respectively.

Police officials said an unidentified assailant on a motorcycle lobbed a hand grenade at the National Party’s election office in Mastung town on Sunday night. The explosive detonated near the office, injuring two party workers.

The victims, identified as Ghulam Mohyuddin and Abdul Aziz Shami, were promptly rushed to the district hospital. The assailant managed to flee the scene.

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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has directed the chief secretaries of four provinces and the chief commissioner of Islamabad to ensure foolproof security arrangements during the upcoming general elections.

The Election Commission has also directed district police officers (DPOs) to prepare security and contingency plans, which primarily cover pre-poll, polling day and post-poll activities, to hold the elections in a peaceful manner.

Additionally, the ECP has emphasised the importance of securing critical election infrastructure, including the offices of district returning officers (DROs), returning officers (ROs), and District Election Commissioners (DECs).

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JUI-F emir Maulana Fazulur Rehman has expressed concern over the law and order situation in the country, claiming that candidates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan are still wary of contesting elections amid security fears.

Maulana Fazl addressed two rallies in Sindh’s Larkana and Kandhkot districts over the weekend as part of the election campaigns for joint JUI-F-Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidates.

In his address at Larkana’s Jamia Islamia seminary on Sunday, the JUI-F emir said that candidates in Balochistan and KP were being targeted in one or two attacks every week. He demanded clarity over the issue and said people should be informed about the prevailing situation.

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A majority of the polling stations being established for the upcoming general polls have been declared sensitive or highly sensitive, Dawn has learnt.

Sources said that out of the total 90,675 polling stations being established across the country, as many as 46,065 (just over 50 per cent) of them have been categorised as sensitive, with 18,437 of them highly sensitive.

The total number of ‘sensitive’ and ‘most sensitive’ polling stations in Punjab comes to 18,620 (or 40.42pc). These include 12,580 categorised as sensitive and 6,040 categorised as being most sensitive. Just over 32,000 of the total 50,944 polling stations in Punjab have been declared ‘normal’.

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PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari says that only “genuine political parties and leadership” could resolve the issues the country was facing.

He claimed that the PPP will give the people of the province their due share in the national resources and dignity as it did during its last government.

He said that all the problems facing the country can be solved through democracy, saying: “What can be done with democracy cannot be achieved in the war.” He said that despite being a victim of grave injustices, the PPP never spoke of taking up arms.

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PML-N leader Khwaja Saad Rafiq warns that the state institutions will collapse if the country’s system is not reformed.

Speaking at an election meeting here on Sunday, the former federal minister said that if the national governance system was not reformed, the state institutions would collapse and it’s the responsibility of the new government and institutions to bring all the political players on a single platform post-Feb 8 elections for devising a joint road map for the country.

He said only those elements should be allowed to run the country who knew how to govern a state and avoid the past precedents when an elected prime minister was ousted through the judiciary under a conspiracy to put the national development into reverse gear.

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EVERY street and corner of Karachi has a lot of colour and vibrance to offer, but there is a noticeable dearth of greenery in the metropolis. This is because little to no attention has been paid to the environmental improvement of the city. However, a young face has thrown his hat into the electoral arena to achieve exactly that; turn the blues of this city to green.

Ahmed Shabbar, who is contesting independently from PS-110 in Karachi with the electoral symbol ‘roots’, which symbolise his environment-heavy manifesto, will be taking on another, more notable independent candidate, lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir, as well as Syed Najmi Alam of the PPP, PTI-backed Bilal Jadoon and PML-N’s Babar Anwar.

A physics student-turned-engineer, Mr Shabbar is contesting the election with the idea of ushering a ‘green’ revolution.

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Three seats of the National Assembly in the federal capital are up for grabs as none of the mainstream political parties appears to be in a position to clinch a majority here in the Feb 8 general elections.

Uncertainty prevails in the capital about the success of three mainstream political parties — PML-N, PTI and PPP due to their internal rifts, ‘promoting the hereditary politics’, fielding of apolitical figures and trusting alr­eady tested/defeated candidates.

On the other hand, it has been observed that due to unprecedented food inflation, high rocketing gas and electricity bills, rent of houses and unaffordable school/college fees for their children, people in the city have so far disassociated themselves from the elections as they believed that elite class has made elections a source of power politics just to satisfy their designs and not to address people’s problems.

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In Quetta, citizens have been grappling with the impacts of a prevailing political crisis and worsening law and order situation. However, one woman is hoping against hope that the region’s lived experience will take a turn towards inclusivity and prosperity, after the upcoming general elections.

Sana Durrani is a 41-year-old socio-political activist who comes from extremely humble beginnings.

She holds Masters degrees in Political Science and Gender Studies and has developed a rapport in Balochistan for her efforts in the realms of social advocacy and human rights.

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The percentage of voters over the age of 65 among total registered voters has fallen below 10 per cent, according to an analysis of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) data.

A comparison of polling schemes from 2018 and 2023 shows that even though the number of voters over 65 has increased by 1.67m, their proportion among total voters went down by almost 1pc.

The number of registered voters in 2023 increased to 128.58m, with 12.29m or 9.56pc over 65.

A breakdown of voter data in all 144 districts shows that the proportion of older voters is above 10pc in 26 districts only.

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The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has claimed that the first-ever country-wide test run of the Election Management System (EMS) was a success.

A day after the mock exercise of the system, it said the results were useful and encouraging results. The claim came amidst concerns being raised by some over the decision to use the system.

“Offices of Returning Officers (ROs) at 859 locations across the country participated in the experimental exercise during which the phases of fiber/DSL connectivity, EMS app login (log-in), usage and transmission and tabulation results were fully practiced,” the commission said in a statement.

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From being a quiet fishing village in Makran to becoming a geopolitical asset as the flagship venture of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Gwadar has had an interesting journey through time.

A part of the Khan of Kalat’s dominion before Partition, suzerainty over the port was granted to the brother of Oman’s then-ruler, Sultan Bin Ahmed, after he had a falling out with the sultan and sought refuge in the neighbouring state.

By some accounts, the gesture was made in keeping with Baloch tradition of hospitality and offering refuge, but the warmth not reciprocated, and after becoming the ruler of Oman, the former refugee ruler refused to return Gwadar to the state of Kalat.

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PTI witnessed an eventful weekend with its candidates and supporters taking to the streets across the country on the call of incarcerated leader Imran Khan facing police crackdown in several places and its main leadership unveiling the election manifesto promising radical constitutional reforms and a society where both the rich and the poor are treated equally by the law.

In its manifesto unveiled only ten days before general elections on February 8, PTI pledged a set of legislative reforms, including constitutional amendments for the direct election of prime minister, reducing the tenure of the National Assembly to four years and Senate’s to five years.

As the party’s central leaders unveiled the manifesto at a news conference in Islamabad, police launched a crackdown on PTI’s rallies in many cities, and arrested dozens of party workers and leaders.

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After the release of its 10-point economic agenda earlier this month, the PPP on Saturday released its election manifesto, promising to provide relief to the inflation-stricken populace through focus on rights and governance reforms.

The 64-page manifesto — titled Chuno Nai Soch Ko (elect new vision] — shared by PPP leader Sherry Rehman promises devolution of power under the 18th Amendment, criminalisation of enforced disappearances, accountability of intelligence agencies, as well as efforts to depoliticise and de-corporatise the ‘national security complex’.

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Having already been prime minister more times than any other Pakistani politician, but never for a full term, Nawaz Sharif hopes to break his unlucky streak the fourth time around.

Nawaz and Shehbaz were born in 1949 and 1950, respectively, and have been prominent faces in politics since the 1980s.

Nawaz, who joined the family business House of Ittefaq (Ittefaq Group) — an industrial conglomerate with interests in sugar, steel, and textiles after completing his studies — began his political career as Punjab’s finance minister during General Ziaul Haq’s regime.

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PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has unveiled his party’s much-anticipated election manifesto, with the upcoming February 8 polls less than two weeks away.

Speaking at a party event in Lahore, he said that the PML-N’s manifesto has been prepared with “great efforts” and would be “fully implemented” if voted to power. Nawaz termed the country’s economy as the most important aspect of the manifesto.

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Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has said that those who had destroyed the national economy are again struggling to rule over the country.

“Even Bangladesh and Afghanistan have surpassed Pakistan in economic growth and their currencies have improved than our rupee,” he observed while addressing his party’s public meeting in Latifabad on Friday evening.

While criticising Pakistan Peoples Party’s rule on Sindh and its desperation to see Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari becoming prime minister, the JI chief remarked: “Bilawal doesn’t have a vision”.

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has long been an area where politicians have gone at it tooth and nail to amass public approval and electoral support. Since 2013, the PTI has formed two successive governments in the province.

But this year, a young doctor contesting under the ANP banner is optimistic the winds will change come Feb 8.

Dr Naveedullah Khan has chosen Peshawar’s PK-82 to start his political journey. An orthopaedic surgeon by profession, the 37-year-old decided to contest due to the rarity of professionals engaged in mainstream politics. Khan believes the lack of professionals directly correlates to policies that are neither ‘viable’ or ‘innovative’.

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Maulana Fazlur Rehman is one of the most intriguing personalities in the realm of Pakistani politics.

Born in Dera Ismail Khan in 1953, Fazl took over the reins of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) in 1980 at the age of 27 when his father passed away. The party then split into two in the mid-80s — the JUI-F, led by Fazl, and the JUI-S, led by Samiul Haq — over whether to join Ziaul Haq’s government and also allegedly over personal differences. Like his father, Fazl draws his support from followers of the Deobandi school of thought which is part and parcel of JUI-F’s ideology.

Fazl, thanks to his father’s legacy, emerged as the leader of the more powerful faction. Although the party claims to hold intra-party elections every three years, he has been its head since 1980.

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JUI-F emir Maulana Fazlur Rehman has claimed that former prime minister Imran Khan was “imposed” upon the country and his agenda was to “destroy the economy”.

While addressing an election gathering in Tehsil Jatoi of Muzaffargarh, the JUI-F chief also lamented that Pakistan’s religious identity has been eroded in the past 76 years.

Without naming him, Maulana Fazl censured the former PM, saying that after the 2018 elections, “an illegitimate assembly and illegitimate ruler” came to power.

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Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) President Abdul Aleem Khan has said the youth is the real capital, but it was “misled for political purposes” in recent years, pledging his party will use all resources to generate employment for the young.

Addressing a rally in Lahore’s Shahdara that falls in his constituency (NA-117), Aleem regretted that Pakistan had fallen into the hands of “inexperienced” people and as a result of the 2018 elections the image of the country was “badly tarnished”.

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Despite the absence of the traditional electoral pomp and show on the streets, an overwhelming number of candidates are vying for National Asse­mbly seats in the upcoming polls.

A careful analysis of the final candidate list, issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), reveals that a total of 5,160 candidates, including 312 women and two transgender persons, are in the running for 266 general seats of the National Assembly. So far, there is not a single constituency where a one-on-one contest is expected.

But with polls just under two weeks away, reports have started pouring in from various constituencies about candidates announcing their retirement from the race and withdrawing in support of other hopefuls, even after the process of printing of the ballot papers has long begun.

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After failing to meet the legal deadline and missing the timeline it set for itself, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the final polling scheme for the Feb 8 general elections.

Section 59(6) of the Elections Act 2017 requires the publication of the final list of polling stations of each constituency, at least 30 days before polling day, in the official gazette as well as the website of the ECP.

The ECP, however, had announced it would publish the polling scheme 15 days before polling day, another deadline that could not be met.

When contacted by Dawn, a senior ECP official agreed that there were other reasons behind the legal requirement of placing the polling scheme on ECP’s website 30 days before polling day, in addition to ensuring transparency in the processes leading to elections.

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With the general elections just days away, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has conducted the first countrywide mock exercise to test its new Election Manage­ment System (EMS), developed by a private company, which it plans to put to use in the upcoming electoral exercise.

However, given the commission has yet to live down the failure of the Result Transmi­ssion System (RTS) that was put in place amid much pomp and circumstance in the 2018 polls, there has been no word on how successful (or unsuccessful) the last minute experiment has proven to be this time around.

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The Supreme Court has granted permission to five key PTI-backed candidates, including Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, to contest the upcoming general elections, over­turning rejections by returning officers, election tribunals and lower courts.

These five candidates, who will now participate in elections from different constituencies across Punjab, are Elahi (PP-32, Gujrat), Sanam Javaid Khan (NA-119, NA-120 and PP-150, all in Lahore), Shaukat Mehmood Basra (NA-163, Bahawalnagar), Malik Umar Aslam (NA-87, Khushab), and Tahir Sadiq (NA-49, Attock).

However, one candidate, Mohammad Arif Abbasi, faces disqualification from taking part in the elections from PP-19.

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Maryam Nawaz, the apparent political heir of three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, is a familiar face in Pakistani politics. Known for her biting rhetoric and ability to both pull and rouse a crowd, Maryam has made a name for herself in a political sphere dominated by men.

The three-time ‘first daughter’ was born in 1974. She married Mohammad Safdar, then a captain in the Pakistan Army, in 1992 during her father’s first term as prime minister.

She largely remained behind the scenes till 2013 when she helped manage her father’s re-election campaign. Maryam, then 39 years old, was the PML-N’s counter to the popularity that PTI’s Imran Khan enjoyed among the youth.

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Being one of a large number of the so-called ‘fringe’ parties — smaller groups and outfits in the national political spectrum with a small share of the electorate, operating in the ‘ideological niches’ left untended by mainstream parties — has both its advantages and pitfalls.

In the most recent instance, in 2018, the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) is estimated by political analysts to have cost the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) at least 15 closely contested national seats across Pakistan.

However, it can be frustrating for the supporters of such parties, since these fringe parties mostly fail to consolidate their ‘popularity’ and their electoral gains — if any — to grow bigger and transform themselves into mainstream, regional or national, parties, barring the examples of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

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The business community in Pakistan’s largest city is, as you would expect, hedging its bets for the upcoming elections. This segment usually supports political candidates of their choice by financing their campaigns or contributing in other ways.

Mohammad Sharjeel Gopalani, president of the All-City Tajir Itehhad (ACTI), will be in the run for NA-239 as a candidate of the Tehreek-i-Lab­aik Pakistan (TLP) from Lyari.

Mohammad Rizwan Irfan is president of the Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA). He is the PPP-backed candidate for PS-130 in Karachi’s District Central.

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With only two more weeks to go before polls, two political parties have found themselves caught up in cases of candidates supposedly withdrawing from the electoral battle in favour of others. The reality, as concluded by fact-checking platform iVerify Pakistan, is that neither of the alleged withdrawals came from the parties concerned.

Posts circulating on social media claimed that MQM-P withdrew its candidate from Malir’s NA-230 constituency in favour of ASWJ’s Aurangzeb Farooqui. The posts did not identify the time, date or place where the political gathering in the attached video took place.

Read the full story from iVerify Pakistan here.

Former prime minister Imran Khan has said that the Punjab government imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to hamper the upcoming show of power by PTI candidates.

He was speaking to media persons after attending proceedings of GBP190 million, Toshakhana, and cipher cases.

Imran told media persons that the caretaker government, a few individuals in the establishment and the Election Commission of Pakistan are united against his party.

He claimed that PTI had an overwhelming vote bank within the armed forces and the party would not be deterred whatever coercive measure were adopted to suppress its voice.

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PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif has declared his intention to overhaul the country’s political system that has led to the “unceremonious departure of prime ministers” and questioned the reasons behind his own removal from power ahead of the previous elections.

“Will you tell what enmity you had with me that you ousted me despite the fact that our government overcame loadshedding, controlled inflation and laid a network of motorways in the country?” he asked while addressing a campaign rally in Punjab’s Nankana Sahib district.

“Why was I handcuffed, sent to jail and exiled (to the UK)? I want an answer,” he said. “We will change this whole system and for this I need your support. We will do such works that will be remembered in history.”

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Born in 1988, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has been active in politics for over a decade but is yet to follow the footsteps of his mother Benazir Bhutto and grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and become the prime minister.

Following his graduation in 2010, Bilawal entered politics, making his political debut in December 2012 on the fifth anniversary of his mother’s killing with an emotionally charged speech.

After the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — a coalition of opposition parties — ousted then-prime minister Imran Khan in April 2021 with a successful no-confidence vote, Bilawal was appointed foreign minister — the country’s youngest — in the newly formed cabinet led by former fierce rival Shehbaz Sharif.

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The state cannot hold elections without the Pakistan Army. On Tuesday, the caretaker government formally approved the deployment of military and civil armed forces personnel at polling stations and sensitive constituencies “in order to maintain peace and security” during the upcoming general elections.

It is understandable why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wants boots on the ground for the elections. Apart from various administrative and other reasons, there has been a surge in militant attacks targeting security forces in recent months, and the commission would not want anything untoward happening close to or on election day.

However, the troops being deployed should be clearly instructed that their role is limited to providing security and ensuring peace. They must not, for whatever reason, enter polling stations or interfere in the voting and post-voting procedures. The controversies that arose after the 2018 polls must be avoided at all costs.

Read the full editorial here.