NAMES influence personalities, it is said. Does the name of a place affect the opinion of its dwellers? Shahpur’s Ghulam Qadir appears to indicate that it does.

“Musharraf is a brave man unlike the politicians of this country,” claims Qadir, who stands draped in a shawl to fight off the cold wave in this centuries’ old town on the left bank of the River Jhelum in Sargodha district.

“Musharraf has successfully taken on suicide bombers and insurgents everywhere,” explains Qadir as a shawl-wrapped suicide bomber targets soldiers in Kohat, NWFP, almost at the same time.

Qadir, hailing from a local tenant family, is going to vote for the supporters of Musharraf. However, he is concerned at the PML-Q in-fight in his constituency, NA-68, as “it will benefit PML-N nominee Javed Shah”. Former MNA Mazhar Qureshi has been given Q League’s ticket for the seat but Farrukh Javed Ghumman, a brother-in-law of Anwer Ali Cheema, a PML-Q nominee from an adjacent constituency, is in the run as an independent candidate. Qadir says Qureshi is pro-poor, presenting his own case as an example of the political figure’s ‘humanity’ and in the process divulging the reason behind his tilt towards the pro-Musharraf camp. “Qureshi Saheb has helped in absolving me of a murder charge.”

Electioneering in the district where biradaris, and not parties, rule the roost is so far lacklustre. The clouds of uncertainty caused by the ongoing judicial crisis and boycott campaign by the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) hung threateningly over the election scene here for long. The candidates waited to ‘invest’ in their publicity material and in setting up election camps. Until a few days before Eid the city streets were bereft of banners.

The PML-Q has fielded all the winners of the 2002 polls who hail from strong clans and have the added advantage of being related to the district and tehsil nazims. Both the PPP and the PML-N “lack known candidates”. The last time, the PML-Q had clinched three of the five NA seats from the district while the other two had gone to the PPP. However one of them, Mazhar Qureshi from NA-68, later changed loyalty and joined the ruling party. Six of the 11 PA seats were claimed by the PML-Q, two by the PPP and as many by independents while only one seat was bagged by the PML-N.

Anwar Cheema, PML-Q nominee for NA-67, is one of the few politicians in the country who have never lost an election ever since making their debut. He entered electoral politics in 1983. Managing to clinch the office of district council chairman in the local body polls held that year, he developed his constituency, and consequently his political influence, within no time. This service has helped him return to the National Assembly six consecutive times while a seventh term also appears to be almost confirmed. His model is being imitated by the incumbent district nazim, Inamul Haq Piracha, and tehsil nazims in the district.

Another factor that has been making the job of Cheema easier is the locals-settlers divide. Under the settlers category fall people who migrated from Sialkot and Gujrat to this area after introduction of canal system during the Raj era. Through alleged gerrymandering, he managed to ensure that 80 per cent of the population in his constituency comprised settlers.

Misuse of authority and public funds for personal publicity of the rulers has been a trademark of officialdom. A current manifestation of the trend in Sargodha is found in the way the city’s roads have been named. If you enter the city on the eastern side, you are greeted by a green billboard that declares a link road that leads into the constituency of Cheema, to be ‘Shahrah Aamir’. Aamir is Cheema’s son and a former provincial minister. The junior is in the run this time too.

Going downtown from the district courts one comes across another ‘public service’ message put up by the highways department: a green gate carrying a portrait of PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and informing the travellers that they are entering the ‘Sharae Shujaat Hussain’.

Opposition candidates allege administrative manipulation, especially by the district nazim, to rig the polls though they are not ready to register their complaints with the Election Commission.

PML-N nominee for NA-64 Pir Farooq Bahaul Haq, from the family of first chief justice of the Federal Shariat Court Pir Karam Shah, says the district officers are campaigning for his rival from the PML-Q, Haroon Piracha, the nephew of district nazim Inamul Haq Piracha. Executive district officers (EDOs) are also directing their respective subordinates to deposit their postal ballots with them, he claims, alleging that the same will be cast for Haroon Piracha.

Nawaz Sharif is said to have a vote-bank as he had extended financial help to the flood victims here as prime minister in 1992. Haq is banking on this factor as well as on the influence of the seminary set up by his forefather in the constituency decades ago. In fact, the seminary, recently upgraded as an Islamic university, is his main election office.

In NA-66 that comprises city localities, the PPP appears to be benefiting from the anti-Musharraf and anti-price-hike sentiments that are more visible in urban areas. Withdrawal of papers by a strong candidate, MMA nominee Dr Arshad, runner-up in the last polls to the PPP winner, will also go to the party’s advantage.

Upsets may happen but only on a couple of seats and due to differences within the PML-Q on the basis of biradaris. For instance, Asghar Kalyar, contesting on PML-Q ticket from PP-37, is supporting Farrukh Javed Ghumman, an independent candidate, instead of party’s nominee Mazhar Qureshi. Qureshi in turn is backing Ali Raza Lehri, an independent contestant this time round who had lost as a PML-Q nominee in the 2002 polls to Kalyar, who was then in the arena as an independent runner.