GUJRAT: The ruling party’s victory in NA-63 (Jhelum) by-poll on Aug 31 by a `thin’ margin is a matter of concern for PML-N’s local and top leadership.

For local observers, the 8,000-vote margin is too low considering the party’s record in the constituency since decades.

The decline is attributed to party’s poor performance as well as announcement of support by local chapter of the PML-Q through former MNA Raja Muhammad Afzal. The party lost in areas falling in tehsil Pind Dadan Khan which was known as its strong bastion.

Hamza summons party’s local leadership

In 2013 election, the PML-N’s Nawabzada Iqbal Mehdi had bagged 116,013 votes whereas the PTI’s Saeed Mirza got 42,805 and PML-Q’s Fawad Chaudhry 34,072 votes.

However, in August 31 by-poll, the PML-N could secure 81,612 votes only whereas PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry got 73,819 votes.

The PML-N has never lost election in NA-63 since the regime of Gen Ziaul Haq.

After a close contest with the PTI and comparatively poor performance of the PML-N, Hamza Shahbaz took notice of the situation and called all the MNAs and MPAs and office-bearers of the party from district Jhelum for a meeting in Lahore on Sept 7 (today).

Local analysts say the PML-N lost popular support in PP-27, Pind Dadan Khan. Here the party suffered a defeat by some 1,000 votes as compared to PP-26 comprising the Jhelum city and its surrounding rural areas where it won by a margin of some 9,000 votes.

Explaining the reasons for the decline in the party’s vote bank, some local PML-N leaders say the party supporters and voters have expressed their annoyance over the support announced by the PML-Q’s former ticket-holder in PP-27, Abid Jutana, whose own followers did not accept the decision and went on to vote against the ruling party.

In Jhelum city’s ward, the PML-N lost in the area of ex-MNA Raja Muhammad Afzal, the erstwhile PML-N stalwart who later joined the PPP and then PTI, where he had announced support for the PML-N, particularly the polling station where Mr Afzal exercised his voting right. Whereas in the 2013 election, the party had won from that ward and polling station with a huge margin. This also shows annoyance of PML-N voters and supporters over Mr Afzal’s support for their party candidate.

Talking about the situation after the by-election, Chaudhry Muhammad Boota Javed, the president of the PML-N for Jhelum, says the party supporters were annoyed over some wrong decisions.

“The party could not even mobilise its voters since most of the supporters were confident of their party’s victory due to which they did not take the ballot seriously.”

However, he says, this should not be a matter of concern for the party in the future as next time the party would work hard and improve its performance.

Commenting on the increase in PTI tally, Mr Javed denies there was any increase in the PTI votes as the cast votes were actually anti-PML-N. To prove his point, he says in the 2013 election, total votes of PTI and Fawad Chaudhry, the then PML-Q candidate, stood around 76,000. Fawad’s vote bank, according to him, was due to his family’s influence.

“This time around, Fawad and PTI collectively reached the figure of 72,000 votes.”

Fawad Chaudhry says the poor performance of the PML-N leadership in Jhelum and an aggressive campaign at the grassroots level by him and the PTI workers have resulted in improvement of the votes despite the ruling party utilising all the unfair means, including irregularities in the compilation of the results, for its victory.

Fawad says the voters have revolted against the bad performance of the PML-N and poor selection of its candidate, Nawabzada Matloob Mehdi. He says people had rejected even the support of the PML-Q, JI and some local PTI leaders for the PML-N candidate; however, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) supported him.

“There was a low turnout in the urban areas as compared to rural areas.”

However, according to the reports, no votes were cast in villages like Langar of Union Council Ahmedabad and Dhok Bagga, both falling in Pind Dadan Khan tehsil, which was a reaction to their neglect by the ruling party lawmakers.

The local leaders of PML-N have admitted that the party’s government as well as the lawmakers would have to improve the performance and make right decisions in the local politics to avoid any such embarrassment in future.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2016