MURREE: The election campaign in some union councils of Murree town has come to a halt due to the ongoing litigation over the delimitation of the UCs.

The delimitation of various constituencies of the Murree and Kotli Sattian towns was challenged in the Lahore High Court (LHC) which decided in favour of the petitioners. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court.

The SC a few days ago sent the case back to the LHC with a direction to decide the matter in three weeks. The apex court ruled that the delimitation was the jurisdiction of the ECP, not the provincial government.

On the other hand, electioneering has gained momentum in the other UCs of the town where elections would be held on December 5.

Political parties, especially the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), have issued tickets to their candidates. At a function, Hafiz Usman Abbasi, the coordinator for NA-50 and special assistant to Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, distributed the party tickets.

The ruling PML-N is in a strong position and will be facing a few independent candidates while the PPP has not awarded even a single ticket for the slot of UC chairman.

The PTI has awarded tickets to only two candidates and made seat adjustments with other parties, particularly Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in three UCs.

In UC Potha Sharif, Rashid Mehmood Abbasi was given the PML-N ticket for the post of chairman with Fakhar Islam as the vice-chairman. The PTI could not award ticket to any candidate due to internal rifts. However, Irfan Abbasi of the PTI and Sajjadul Hassan Abbasi of the have made a strong panel in the UC.

In UC Sehr Bagla, Haji Shakeel Abbasi will be contesting for the slot of chairman and Gul Nawaz for vice-chairman on the tickets of the PML-N. Nadeem Abbasi of the PTI and Shaukat Rasheed of JI and independent Saad Abbasi are also contesting the elections from the UC.

In UC Dewal, the home village of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, M.D. Ijaz Abbasi has been awarded ticket by the PML-N for the UC chairman and Humayoon Abbasi for the vice-chairman slot. Attaur Rehman of the JI, Azhar Javed of PTI and Rifat Mehmood (independent) are also contesting the elections.

In UC Angoori, Raja Qadaffi will be contesting for the post of chairman on the ticket of PML-N. In UC Ghel, Naeem Abbasi has been given the PML-N ticket.

In UC Rawat, Abdul Majeed Abbasi is the PML-N candidate for the slot of chairman while Sardar Sajid Rasheed and Mohammad Ikram of JI are also contesting the elections.

In UC Murree city, former chairman Murree Municipal Committee Raja Daftar Abbasi has been awarded ticket for the slot of chairman and Ziaullah Abbasi for vice-chairman

by the ruling party. Raja Haroon Mehfooz of the PTI and Mohiuddin of the PPP are also in the field.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2015