SAHIWAL: The PML-N high command’s indecisiveness till the eleventh hour, surrendering to the demand of Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) for awarding two seats to Nauman Langrial under the seat adjustment, ignoring constituency politics, opposition of some party loyalists to the party decision and local administration’s pressure on the PML-N dissidents led to the PML-N’s defeat in two national and as many provincial assemblies seats to the independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in district Sahiwal.

The final result shows that out of three national and seven provincial assemblies seats, the PML-N had won a single national and five provincial assembly seats while PTI-backed independent candidates won two national and two provincial assembly seats, causing a major dent to the PML-N’s stronghold in the district.

Many local observers think the biggest chunk of the PML-N votes going to Ayesha Khan Lodhi, Tufail Jutt and Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal who were refused party tickets in NA-142- and NA-143 cleared the way for the PTI candidates to clinch both the seats. The other factor was that the presence of these PML-N loyalists in the contest as independents did not let the one-to-one contest between the PML-N and PTI happen in both constituencies and where one-to-one contest happened like the NA-141, the PML-N succeeded in securing a seat. In NA-141, Pir Imran Shah won consecutively four times as MNA on the PML-N ticket along with a new aspirant Nadeem Qasim won the first time as his father Malik Nadeem Kamran, the ex-minister, had won thrice from the same PP-199 seat.

Tufail Jutt, the old loyalist of the PML-N, the runner-up candidate with more than 80,000 votes from NA-143, informed Dawn that because of the indecisiveness of Nawaz Sharif regarding the seat adjustment with the IPP, the party decision was announced very late.

Seat adjustment with IPP, ditching party loyalists among causes of party loss in NA-142, 143

“I had argued with Malik Nadeem Kamran, a PML-N parliamentary board member as well as party high command that Nauman Langrial of the IPP cannot win his own seat but surprisingly, the party, instead of awarding one seat, ended up awarding two seats to him—one to Nauman Langrial himself in NA-143 and his son Falik Sher Langrial in PP-204. Jutt argued they both were defeated.

Tufail argued that in the presence of PTI loyalists like the Rai’s, the PTI voters rejected Langrials who had ditched their own party (PTI) and joined the IPP. “Both Nauman Langrial and his son secured third positions in NA-143 and PP-204, respectively against PTI-backed independent candidates.”

Mr Jutt rued the fact that none in the party paid heed to his advice. He claimed it was under his pressure that Shehbaz Sharif decided to keep the seat open as he had duly informed the party high command that he would contest independently. He said his decision was neither rejected nor accepted by Shehbaz but strongly opposed by Rana Sanaullah. He blamed tehsil and district office-bearers of the PML-N had also opposed his decision of contesting independently.

“Even local administration pressured me to withdraw in favour of Langrial who eventually stood at third in the final countdown of the election,” Tufail added.

The other biggest surprise was the loss of the PML-N four-time winning candidate Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf who lost to a PTI-backed young covering candidate Chaudhry Usman Ali with more than 9,000 votes margins.

Ayesha Arshad Lodhi, the daughter of late Arshad Khan Lodhi, was an aspirant for the PML-N ticket for NA-142. The party denied ticket to her but awarded it to her husband Naveed Aslam Lodhi for PP-201 who won his seat. She contested the election as an independent candidate but lost it; however, she bagged more than 32,000 votes and secured the third position. Her participation also damaged the vote bank of the PML-N as she was affiliated with the party.

Speaking to Dawn, Ayesha said Ashraf’s ‘age factor’, lack of development work in the constituency and absence of coordination among different influential groups caused Chaudhry Ashraf’s loss in the election.

While replying to a question regarding her stance against his party candidature, she said that because of his age and health factor, Ashraf was not ‘acceptable’ to the voters and this was what she argued in the PML-N parliamentary board meeting. Ayesha said Ashraf did not recognise his supporters and failed to coordinate with his MPAs, rather he pushed his son-in-law Mian Shahid Bhatti and brother-in-law Husnain Rammy to campaign against her husband Naveed Aslam Lodhi.

Ayesha said even the party central leadership like Rana Sanaullah, district leadership and former local MPAs like Malik Nadeem Kamran and Malik Arshad did not know the ground reality of the constituency, which simultaneously touched the boundaries lines of five provincial assemblies boundaries spread among three major areas of Sahiwal, Harappa and Chichawatni where Ashraf had alienated himself from his voters in the last one decade.

Ayesha Lodhi said she would remain loyal to the PML-N despite the party’s refusal to award her the ticket.

Naveed Aslam Lodhi informed Dawn Chaudhry Ashraf had failed to coordinate with his three candidates for MPA seats despite knowing the fact that his Arain clan vote had been divided into two groups due to Chaudhry Usman Ali of the PTI. Usman Ali’s uncle Chaudhry Asif’s nomination papers were rejected for his involvement in the May 9 incidents and he was a covering candidate who had defeated three times MNA.

Interestingly, Pir Imran Shah won with more than 12,000 votes lead against Rana Amir Shahzad, the former tehsil nazim. The Rai’s of Chichawatni, namely Rai Hasan Nawaz, Rai Mujtaba and retired Maj Sarwar, won three seats on ‘Mic’ symbol from NA-143, PP-204 and PP-203, respectively. Rai Hasan Nawaz’s lead margin in NA-143 was higher than the total votes of Nauman Langrial, Tufail Jutt and Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal.

Interestingly, the Jutt brothers of Chichawatni lost both seats because of division within the party ranks in Chichawatni. Tufail Jutt lost to Rai Hasan Nawaz and Hanif Jutt to Rai Murtaza Iqbal.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2024