KASUR: The PML-N has landed its old and tested players for the national and provincial constituencies of Kasur to contest the 2024 general election whereas other parties, including the PTI and the PPP, are mostly relying on the new faces.

Kasur has four constituencies for National Assembly (NA-131 to NA-134) and 10 constituencies for provincial assembly, from PP-175 to PP-184, mostly consisting of rural areas, with limited urban population.

Former prime minister and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif is also contesting the election from Kasur’s constituency of NA-132.

In NA-131, the PML-N’s former MNA Saad Waseem is in the field against the PTI’s Maqsood Sabir, a former district council naib nazim, and the PPP’s Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, also a former MNA.

Constituencies dominated by rural areas may go for traditional politics

PP-176 and PP-177 are two provincial constituencies of NA-131. In PP-176, PML-N candidate former MPA Chaudhry Ilyas Gujjar would face the PTI’s Masood Bhatti. Political pundits see a tough competition between the two candidates.

In PP-177, former MPA of PML-N Naeem Safdar Ansari, the three-time winner, would compete against the PTI’s candidate Mehar Muhammad Saleem and the PPP’s Asif Khokhar.

According to analysts, there is a huge vote bank of the PTI both in the NA and PP constituencies having urban areas but it needs hard work to gather its leaders as well as voters. Another issue is that the PTI candidates are not doing any campaign out of fear of being arrested.

NA-132, the constituency of Shehbaz Sharif, comprises three provincial assembly constituencies, PP-175, PP-178, and PP-179, and it includes the rural areas where clan and family factors dominate politics. Shehbaz is in contest against the PTI’s Muhammad Hussain Dogar, former MPA of the PPP, the TLP’s Faqeer Hussain Bhatti, the Quran-o-Sunnah Movement Pakistan’s candidate Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer (seat adjustment with Jamaat-i-Islami for PP-175, Rao Akhtar Ali) and the PPP’s Shaheen Safdar.

It is interesting to note that Shehbaz Sharif has not visited his constituency even once since his announcement to contest the election from it and he is depending on the Malik family for his election campaign. However, the former prime minister is expected to hold his public meeting at Khudian, PP-179 on Jan 28.

Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan (PP-179), the adviser to Shehbaz, and two of his brothers, Malik Ahmed Saeed (PP-178) and Malik Rasheed Ahmed (PP-175), are considered strong candidates. The Malik family has been dominating the constituencies politically for the last two decades. Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan would face the PTI’s Sardar Farooq Ahmed (a new entrant into politics), a nephew of former foreign minister Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali. In PP-178, Malik Ahmed Saeed is expected to have a close contest with PTI candidate Barister Shahid Masood.

Malik Rasheed Ahmed, the former MNA, had left his seat for Shehbaz and would contest from PP-175 against the PTI’s Rashid Tufail among others.

The other heavyweight political family, the Rana Family, is expected to have a close contest with traditional rival, the Nakai group, instead of the PTI, the chief rival in national politics. The Nakai group is representing the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP).

In NA-133, former MNA Rana Ishaq of the PML-N would try its strength against the IPP candidate and chief rival in the arena Sardar Asif Nakai and PTI candidate Azeemudin Lakhvi.

The PML-N had a seat adjustment with the IPP candidate retired Col Hashim Dogar for PP-180.

Meanwhile, the PML-N’s former MPA Sheikh Allauddin would contest against the PTI candidate Hanbal Sana Kareemi.

NA-134 comprises tehsil Pattoki where heavyweight Rana Muhammad Hayat would contest against the IPP candidate and traditional rival Sardar Talib Nakai.

The PML-N’s Mahmood Ahmed Chaudhry would compete against the IPP’s candidate former MPA Pir Mukhtar Ahmed for PP-182. Similarly, former district council chairman Rana Sikandar Hayat would contest against the PTI candidate Rana Almas Liaqat for PP-183. Former speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal of the PML-N would compete against the PTI’s Zakawat Liaqat and the IPP’s Rana Muhammad Aslam, a former bureaucrat, for PP-184.

Local political analysts say as most of the constituencies in Kasur fall in the rural areas, there was strong probability of traditional political players’ victory as compared to the new faces. The vote of the PTI may disperse as the party is under pressure and only the PML-N is campaigning in the constituencies.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2024