GUJRAT, March 22 Election fever which had gripped the city for the last one month reached its peak on Monday, the last day for electioneering as polling will be held here on Wednesday.
The by-election is being held for PP-111 after MPA Haji Nasir Mahmood was unseated due to his fake graduation degree. The main candidates are Pakistan Muslim League-Q's (PML-Q's) Imran Masood and Haji Imran Zafar from the 'N' faction of the PML.
On the last day of the electioneering, the PML-Q youth wing took out a rally led by Chaudhry Shafay Hussain, the son of PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
The PML-N has boosted its campaign through fielding some two dozen male and female parliamentarians and some ministers of the Punjab cabinet. The VIP movement on city roads caused inconvenience for the residents.
Sources say the PML-N has been facing problems in arranging polling agents in almost all 15 union councils of the constituency and asked the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to help it out. Top PPP leaders like Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and Ghazanfar Gull worked for the PML-N candidate. Mr Mukhtar spent five days in the constituency and addressed more than a dozen meetings in the city. Sources said a leading industrialist of the country has provided funds to the PML-N candidate for transport on the day of polling.
The last public meeting of the PML-N was held at Prince Chowk which was addressed by Adviser to Prime Minister Ghazanfar Gull, Chaudhry Ahmed Saeed, Khawaja Mohammad Asif and Khawaja Saad Rafique.
Gujranwala Regional Police Officer Zulfiqar Cheema held a meeting with all candidates to discuss law and order. Mr Cheema said display of arms would not be tolerated and that no person other than a voter or candidate would be allowed into the polling station.
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