KASUR: The PPP is looking for suitable candidates for the next election after its most of the leaders and office-bearers have been swept away in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) tsunami in the last five years.

Political pundits say the PTI and the PML-N would be the main contenders in the district in the electoral arena.

Over a decade, internal rifts and the widening gap between party workers and local leadership are stated to be the main reasons for the depleting party vote in the district.

According to political analysts, office bearers were selected at union council level without consulting the party workers for these reasons, workers have revolted against party candidates in the previous elections.

In the 2008 elections, when there was a wave of public sympathy for the PPP after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the party managed only one NA seat from Kasur. PPP candidate Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali carried the day from NA-140.

In 2012, he also ditched the PPP and joined the PTI.

In 2008, the PPP had five candidates for as many NA constituencies. The candidates included Tariq Hakim Ali, Chaudhry Manzoor, Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali, Rana Abdul Shakoor and Nasira Meo.

Of the 10 provincial assembly, the PPP won three - Malik Akhtar Hassan Naul, Ahmed Ali Tolu and Amjad Ali Meo. Again, in those times, the party had suitable candidates for all MPA constituencies.

The 2013 election was a bad news for the PPP in the district when it had only three candidates for the NA seats and they were Nasira Meo, Chaudhry Manzoor and Syed Tariq Raza. They all lost to their rivals with a big margin.

The party fielded candidates for NA-140 and NA-142. Nasir Meo bagged 20,187 votes against the winning candidate Salman Hanif of the PML-N who secured 75,409 votes. Chaudhry Manzoor got 28,763 votes while his opponent PML-N’s Waseem Akhtar bagged 102,703 votes. Syed Tariq Raza managed only 4,502 votes while the winning candidate Rana Ishaq Khan of PML-N got 96,368 votes.

In the provincial assembly arena, the PPP fielded six candidates and failed to find any suitable candidate for PP-175, PP-180, PP-183, and PP-184. The candidates that represented the party on MPA seats in 2013 included Malik Akhtar Hassain Naul, Muhammad Ashfaq Kamboh, Ahmed Ali Tolu, Malik Khurram Saleem, Kanwar Mumtaz Hussain and Amjad Ali Meo.

Of them, Naul bagged 4,969 votes, while the winning candidate, Muhammad Anees, got 23,746 votes. Kambo got 1,026 votes against PML-N’s Naeem Safdar 60,556 votes. Ahmed Ali Tolu bagged 228 votes against PML-N’s Malik Ahmed Saeed who got 33,901. Malik Khurram Saleem got respectable votes - 17,417, but lost the seat to PML-N’s Malik Ahmed Khan who secured 43,768 votes. Kanwar Mumtaz Hussain got 6,632 votes whereas his rival Sheikh Allauddin of the PML-N secured 46,864 votes. Amjad Ali Meo could bag only 7,437 votes and lost his seat to Mahmood Anwar of the PML-N who got 23,370 votes.

Political pundits believe that electable candidates’ interest in PPP ticket as well as shrinking votes is the outcome of party leaders’ lack of interest in reorganising the party to remove differences between local leadership and workers.

On the other hand, PTI’s Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri reorganised the party in the last five years and won over PPP’s stalwarts such as Sardar Assef, Muhammad Hussain Dogar (PPP district president), Usman Alam, Javid Ashiq Dogar and Tayyab Hassan Rizvi (former MPA).

In the 2015 local body elections, the party had only two candidates - Malik Imran Saleem and Shahbaz Rafi - and both won their seats with a big margin. Their victory shows that the party has still appeal among the voters, and if suitable candidates are fielded, the party can show its presence in the district.

Diehard party worker Asif Ali Khokhar says that in the absence of electable candidates, the party should give a chance to the youth in the election and there would be upset in polls.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2018