FAISALABAD, Aug 23: The ruling PML-backed candidates are in a strong position in the rural areas of Tandlianwala, Samundri, Chak Jhumra and Jaranwala towns while in urban areas falling under the remaining four towns — Lyallpur, Madina, Iqbal and Jinnah — the nominees of joint opposition alliance have a clear edge.

The Faisalabad district has been divided into eight towns and it has 289 union councils having a population of 5.5 million, including 2,803,059 voters. The election commission has set up 2,925 polling stations (819 of those have been declared sensitive by the district administration) and 11,427 booths.

In the previous local-body elections held in 2001, four of the six tehsils were captured by the nominees backed by the PPP. However, city tehsil nazim Mumtaz Ali Cheema and Jaranwala tehsil nazim Rana Abdul Rehman joined the ruling PML while the PPP’s Samundri tehsil nazim Rana Farooq Saeed Khan resigned for contesting the 2002 general elections for a national assembly seat.

In Samundri byelections, PML’s Mazhar Gill grabbed the top slot of the tehsil. For the district council elections, PPP-backed Raja Riaz Ahmad lost to Zahid Nazir, who enjoyed support by the ruling group.

In the general elections, the PML bagged seven of the 11 NA seats, the PML-N captured three and the PPP won only one seat. For the provincial assembly seats, however, the PPP and the PML-N captured 11 seats out of the 22 — the former winning eight of those.

In the local polls of 2001 and the general elections held in the succeeding year, the PML-backed candidates failed to achieve the desired results in the urban areas of Faisalabad despite “official patronage.”

Keeping in view the experience, the government in a clever move this time has given Faisalabad a status of the city district and divided the urban area into four towns by including in it those rural areas in which the PML leadership is believed to have a strong support.

This politically-motivated move of the government has divided the geographical boundaries of the towns and disturbed its original character. None of the national and provincial assembly constituencies of the urban areas is intact in the four towns.

Scores of new faces are in the field for 281 union councils out of the 289 in the district while many veteran politicians also are contesting the elections for the slots of nazims, naib nazims and councillors. Seven panels of nazims and naib nazims have been declared unopposed. Among them is Humaira Zahid, the wife of former district nazim Zahid Nazir.

In the previous local polls, the PML-N failed to organize its campaign because of the absence of local bodies king-maker Chaudhry Sher Ali, who was serving sentence in a Rawalpindi jail in a NAB case.

Chaudhry Sher remained member of the national assembly in 1990, 1993 and 1997 and mayor of the defunct Faisalabad Municipal Corporation for about eight years. His son, Amir Sher Ali, was elected mayor in the 1998 local elections and the youngest son, Abid Sher Ali, is an MNA from the PML-N seat.

Political analysts are of the view that the PML-N and the PPP-backed candidates are in a strong position. However, differences among the PML-N leaders can prove costly to the contenders.

PML-N leaders Chaudhry Sher Ali, MNA Sahibzada Fazal Karim, former MPAs — Khwaja Muhammad Islam, Zeeshan Elahi Shah, Rana Muhammad Afzal and another group of the PML-N, headed by former MNA Mian Abdul Mannan, along with MNAs Raja Nadir Pervez and Rana Asif Tauseef, MPAs Rana Sanullah Khan, Sheikh Ijaz Ahmad and Malik Nawaz have launched a door-to-door campaign besides holding corner meetings for their nominees in all four towns of the city areas.

The PPP’s campaign is being supervised by its secretary-general Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, an MPA, divisional coordinator Raja Riaz Ahmad, an MPA, and city president Mahmoodul Hassan Dar.

Former minister Badruddin Chaudhry, MNA ticket-holder Ijaz Virk, PPP district president Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, District Bar Association President Saleem Jehangir Chattha and central executive committee member Imran Murtaza Hani Khan are taking active part in the election campaign for their Awam Dost Group.

For the ruling PML nominees, federal ministers Wasi Zafar and Mushtaq Ali Cheema, provincial ministers Chaudhry Zaheeruddin Khan and Dr Muhammad Shafiq, Punjab Assembly Speaker Muhammad Afzal Sahi, party’s district president Asim Nazir, an MNA, and other members of the provincial and national assemblies are canvassing.

As many as 10,724 candidates are trying their luck for 3,757 seats of nazims, naib nazims and councillors in Faisalabad district.

In 38 UCs of Lyallpur Town, 136 panels of nazims and naib nazims, 585 candidates for general councillors (male), 181 for general councillors (female), 268 for labour/peasant councillors (male), 130 for women labour/peasant councillors and 95 aspirants for minority councillors are in the race.

Around 150 panels of nazims and naib nazims, 680 candidates for general councillors (male), 190 for women general councillors, 281 for male labour/peasant councillors, 166 for women labour/peasant councillors and 86 for minority councillors are trying their luck for 41 UCs of Madina Town. The contenders for 43 Iqbal Town UCs are: 146 panels of nazims and naib nazims, 678 candidates for general councillors (male), 184 for women general councillors, 300 for labour/peasant councillors (male), 154 for women labour/peasant councillors and 90 for minority councillors.

For Jinnah Town’s 39 UCs, 132 panels of nazims and naib nazims, 674 candidates for general councillors (male), 181 for general councillors (female), 302 for labour/peasant councillors (male), 147 for women labour/peasant councillors and 68 aspirants for minority councillors are in the field.

Chak Jhumra is the smallest town in the district with 15 union councils where 47 panels are taking part for nazim and naib nazim slots. As many as 169 men and 51 women are aspiring for general councillor seats, 80 men and 50 women for labour/peasant councillors’ and 33 people for minority councillors’.

In Jaranwala, the biggest town with 57 union councils, are 206 panels of nazims and naib nazims. Around 873 candidates are contesting for general councillors (male), 239 for women general councillors, 452 for labour/peasant councillors (male), 191 for women labour/peasant councillors and 97 for minority councillors.

For 28 UCs in Tandlianwala Town, some 69 panels of nazims and naib nazims are in the election battle while 420 candidates are in the run for male general councillors, 139 for women general councillors, 230 for male labour/peasant councillors, 90 for women labour/peasant councillors and 21 for minority councillors.

The breakdown of 28 UCs in Samundri is: 114 panels of nazims and naib nazims, 506 men and 167 women for general councillors, 275 men and 117 women for labour/peasant councillors and 84 aspirants for minority councillors.

While the PML-backed candidates and their supporters are boasting of development works during the last four years and pledging more welfare projects, the opposition trio of the MMA, the PPP and the PML-N nominees is citing the government’s misdeeds.

A good number of independent candidates also is in the race.

Army: Army assumed election duty in the district on Tuesday

A flag march was jointly arranged by the police and army which took a round of the city and rural areas. DCO Athar Khan said all sensitive polling stations would be guarded by the army.

BAN: The district administration imposed a complete ban on the use and display of fireworks on the polling day and warned the candidates not to violate the government instructions. The decision has been taken at a meeting presided over by district returning officer Abdul Waheed Khan.