LAHORE, March 8 With just one day left in the polling, electioneering for NA-123 (Lahore-VI) by-polls reached its peak and all the candidates held public meetings to woo their supporters on the final day while campaigning came to an end under the election laws at midnight between Monday and Tuesday.

Unlike the momentous campaigning in NA-55 (Rawalpindi-VI), the electoral activity for this seat lost its luster after PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif withdrew soon after courts cleared him to contest the election.

Ironically, the constituency remained unrepresented in the National Assembly for two years after the Feb 18 general elections and the by-polls were pending since May 2008 after PML-N's Javed Hashmi vacated NA-123 along with NA-55 to retain his home seat from Multan.

Hashmi had returned to the National Assembly simultaneously from Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi in the Feb 18 general elections.

The main reason behind the delay was litigation over Sharif's alleged qualification to contest. But, when courts gave a verdict in his favour, he pulled himself out of the battle ostensibly 'in favour of a worker'.

There are now 56 candidates in the run after main opposition parties failed to forge an alliance to make it a one-on-one show. Of them, three major contenders are PML-N's Pervaiz Malik, who is brother of former attorney-general Malik Muhammad Qayyum, Jamaat-i-Islami's Hafiz Salman Butt and Hamid Meraj of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

As the PML-N nominee in the general elections had won with a margin of around 50,000 votes, seemingly there is no hurdle in the way of the party to retain the seat. However, as the party is ruling the Punjab government, it employed all possible tactics to woo the electorate, i.e. carrying out development works, to the benefit of Malik.

A couple of provincial ministers besides the chief minister's son, MNA Hamza Shahbaz, almost visited the constituency daily to address complaints of the constituents, while Nawaz Sharif had also spoken to an election rally to mobilise his activists. The rally, however, hit the headlines as 'stolen' electricity was used to illuminate the area around the venue.

The PTI is under immense pressure to prove itself after badly losing in Rawalpindi and its chief Imran Khan gave maximum time to the constituency by leading a rally and speaking to his supporters almost on a daily basis.

PTI vice-president Ijaz Chaudhry sees a basic difference between the Rawalpindi and Lahore contests. “The person of Shaikh Rashid had changed electioneering dynamics in Rawalpindi,” he says, expecting different results here than NA-55, as Rawalpindi's results varied from Mansehra's.

Admitting that governments usually have an edge in by-polls, he says the PTI will have a good show here in the absence of any strong rival. For him, Malik is not a charismatic personality while Butt is also a “stale” candidate who failed to come up to the expectations even of his party after winning a couple of times (from some other constituencies) in the past.

“Being an Arain, the clan considered having an overwhelming representation in the constituency, and a local, Meraj is the best choice for voters,” he adds.

What worries him is 'rigging' by the PML-N as posters and banners of rival candidates were allegedly removed at the behest of the government officials. “Although we have trained our polling agents to check on-the-spot rigging, what we cannot do is stopping state funds and resources from being poured into the constituency for the benefit of the PML-N candidate.”

Besides, fully utilising the media, the party has also worked on various segments of society, like over 5,000 two-stroke rickshaw owners residing in the area. Chaudhry had led a rally of rickshaw drivers and owners from NA-123 areas up to the Lahore Press Club the other day.

Known by many as a loud-mouthed person, the JI had fielded Butt mainly to 'humiliate' Sharif through his hard-hitting and mocking speeches. But, the 'trick' ran out of steam after PML-N chief withdrew himself from the race and the JI top leadership too turned its back to the constituency and did not turn up again after opening the first election office there.

The local opinion leaders replaced the top JI leadership even in the publicity material like posters, banners and hoardings with the hope that it will help mobilise voters by giving an impression that the contestant is a down-to-earth sort of person.JI's Lahore chapter chief Amirul Azeem admits that had Sharif been in the run, they would have been more focused on their campaigning.

About the missed electoral alliance for a better fight against the PML-N nominee, Azeem says as the PTI desired to wash the Rawalpindi blot, it frustrated all such moves.

The JI also concentrated on rigging issue and unearthed two 'ghost' polling stations. Azeem says that ghost stations are not mentioned in the polling scheme but around 20,000 votes are likely to be polled on these stations.

He points out that these votes, though genuinely registered, are not mentioned in the voters' lists and candidates usually do not notice the difference of number of votes in the lists provided to them and those with the election commission staff. Localities like Ghoray Shah, Singhpura, Gujjarpura, Shawala Chowk, China Scheme, Begumpura, Shadbagh, Bhagatpura, Bhamman and Jhuggivan village are situated in the constituency, while after Arains, Kashmiris, Rajputs and Mughals are the major castes.

Like all the northern Lahore, lack of civic amenities, poor sanitation, broken roads, contaminated water supplies and unemployment are major problems of the area.