KARACHI, Dec 19: Electioneering is gaining momentum in Lyari though the town’s trademark fanfare is missing.

A survey of the area shows that the poll drives are confined to hoisting of flags, stringing banners, wall chalking and corner meetings.

In the old city areas, including Kharadar and Mithadar, flags and banners are visible at public places, but the campaigning is dull. Traditional drumbeats, dance and excitement are not visible on the streets despite the fact that there are only three weeks left for the Jan 8 elections. Candidates holding corner meetings to mobilize voters have failed to attract big crowds.

Predicting a low turnout on polling day, a senior activist observed that the public by and large seemed to be fed up with the “politics of promises” because of the politicians’ failure to deliver the goods.

In the former district south, NA-248 is the only constituency which the Pakistan People’s Party has retained in all previous elections. The party rightly claims it to be its only stronghold in Karachi, while NA-249 has remained a stronghold of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

At present, both parties are engaged in a fierce battle to retain their traditional seats.

This time the PPP is facing a challenge not from any opposition party but from its own workers in Lyari, who are contesting against the party’s nominated candidates.

Senior party leaders deny that the PPP is faced with any potential threat, arguing that such dissident elements exist in every party but they do not play a decisive role in electoral politics.

The party’s popularity graph shows a negative trend during the past few years because of senior party leaders’ alleged indifferent attitude towards local problems.

The intra-party differences surfaced when dissident party workers led by former MNA Waja Karim Dad openly opposed the nomination of former deputy speaker of the Sindh assembly Sardar Nabeel Ahmad Gabol for NA-248 and the nominations of two former provincial legislators, Rafiq Engineer and Salim Hingora, for PS-108 and PS-109.

The dissident group has fielded Shakoor Shad, a former president of the Sindh People’s Youth, against Nabeel Gabol while Haroon Rashid, brother of former nazim of Lyari Abdul Khaliq Juma, is contesting against Rafiq Engineer.

The absence of Baloch nationalists in the field, the JI boycott and a low-profile candidate put by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement will help the PPP to dominate the electoral scene despite the fact that cracks have appeared in the traditional vote bank of the party as was evident during the past three elections because of the failure of the party to address local problems.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has nominated Wasiullah Lakho while the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has fielded Maqsood Ahmed. Both candidates do not enjoy much public support.

Thus, the real contest will be between Nabeel Ahmed Gabol and Shakoor Shad on NA-248.

It is true that the PPP vote bank has been decreasing with the passage of time, but the party has still an organized network of workers, who are well experienced in the art of election politics.

In 1988, PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was returned from the constituency while in the 1990 elections, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, won the seat.

In the past elections, the battle lines were clearly drawn between the PPP and the anti-PPP alliance composed of the PML-N and the nationalist and religious forces.

But in the 2008 elections the PPP is in a better position because anti-PPP forces — both secular and religious — are divided.