ONE has seen a few elections before but this one beats them all because of the sheer panic surrounding the exercise. No one knows yet what the final line-up will be, which individuals will run in the elections from where, which party will be allowed to take part, under what conditions.

Less than a month to go, it all resembles a prelude to a big wedding in a household that is divided over what events the ceremony is going to consist of. The scheme may be there but appearance-wise it is indeed a house divided over which guests are to be invited to the party on July 25.

The disorganisation that marks the award of tickets is not dissimilar to the melee where the ones who are in charge of putting names on the invitation cards are bound to miss out on certain indispensable guests. That will ensure controversy as it always does at the end of a wedding where arrangements do not meet high free and fair standards.

The way the spectacle is moving towards its climax, some uncle is going to be eventually angered at being ignored or dropped deliberately from an important ritual somewhere. The most irritating part of it is that the greatest unrest over the grant of nominations to aspirants is witnessed in the camp of those who must blow their own trumpet to declare that they are here to set the system right.

Each time the swing moves, the candidates, at least some of them, land in a different constituency.

As the news of protests against the award of party tickets first came from the PTI’s conference rooms, it could be taken as a sign of the enthusiasm the party has generated amongst people. The scenes of Imran Khan’s workers pleading with him for review led to another round of applause for Kaptaan where he was praised for rekindling hope among the people.

This was energy alright, generated by those now pressing for what they believed was their right. This could only mean well for democracy. The impression might still linger somewhere at the back of one’s mind, but the dominating sense is that what we have here are desperate contenders for party nomination. We have a selection board in quandary, often clueless about what separates a desirable candidate from the one who can be denied without too much risk.

It has become a bit of joke. It is as if these Raberas and Samsam Bukharis are magicians fighting against each other, spitting fire and presenting a party ticket out of thin air, only to lose it the next moment to their rival. This is not at all a good beginning for the reformists under the Imran Khan banner.

Between the Dehars and the Bosans, the ticket has changed hands too many times for the wary onlooker to not dread the times when the party does eventually get a chance to take important decisions for realising the PTI’s dream of a new Pakistan. Imran Khan says he has to win this election.

A quote ascribed to his party minces no words as it states that it is dead determined to defeat the N-League — by employing PTI candidates and, failing that, backing whoever can defeat the Sharif nominees. This openness and acceptance policy has meant that the party has more candidates than it can entertain. Already, there have been many animated protests, and since the panic and passion are not just limited to the PTI, the faint-hearted fear the election could turn violent.

The PML-N has had its own moments of last-minute change of heart. The necessary adjustment has been made and a few of those denied party tickets have announced going solo in the July 25 poll. The Sharif panic, however, is most starkly reflected in the merry-go-round ride the PML-N’s candidates — the party stalwarts — have been taken on in Lahore. Each time the swing moves, the candidates, at least some of them, land in a different constituency.

The most difficult mysteriously has been Maryam Nawaz’s choice. She was earlier slated to fight Dr Yasmin Rashid from NA-125, although Maryam herself says she had never finalised the option. Now it has been announced that she will contest against a relatively lesser-known PTI nominee for the NA-127 seat from Lahore.

There are no obvious reasons for the switch for those used to calling the city a stronghold of the Sharifs. Maybe there are compelling reasons for this move which will most certainly embolden the PTI which has had its own issues with the selection of the extremely important Lahore candidates.

NA-125 is an old Sharif family seat from where Mian Nawaz Sharif has been fighting the election since 1985. But, then, Lahore itself has been a safe Sharif bet without dividing it into various constituencies.

The problem is not so much with Maryam choosing NA-127 over NA-125, even though it must be said that some old loyalists in 125 will be a little disappointed by this unexpected departure of royalty from their midst. The real issue here is the hopping around that has preceded the final decision, if a final decision has now been reached. The uncertainty on which seat Maryam will fight on has led to scenarios where a whole set of senior PML-N politicians is then shown to be moved to constituencies ‘not their own’.

The PTI is going to try and cash in on the tentativeness on the part of the PML-N here — just as media missions to NA-125 area are going to be busy finding the motives behind the move, in trying to satisfy the curiosity of their viewers and readers. Much that is perceived as evidence is going to be thrown up — angry voters, uncooperative party cadres, estranged local government representatives, maybe a concentration of paan-cigarrette shops angered by some recent remark by Uncle Shahbaz Sharif.

The fact is that all this tension was to be avoided when there were already many outside factors casting dark clouds of uncertainty over the candidature of the PML-N as a whole. If the PML-N strategy was to pretend that it is unaffected by any hurdles that it may encounter on the way, the Lahore scramble suggests otherwise.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018