OKARA, Oct 15: In the 24th year of its birth as district, Okara has never seen a zila nazim, formerly district council chairman, from urban areas. Like his predecessors, Nazim-elect Syed Asad Ali Shah Gillani of the Shah Muqeem group who takes oath of his office tomorrow comes from the traditional feudal setup.

The elections results once again dampen the hopes and projections of the National Reconstruction Bureau officials who designed the current local government system with an aim to bring into forth faces from the middle class

A tehsil of Sahiwal, Okara was made district in 1982. During the 1983 local polls, Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo was elected as the district council chairman. Re-elected in 1987, he was set for another term in 1991 but was barred under a prohibition imposed by the government on the third re-election.

Not ready to give up, Wattoo helped his brother-in-law Mian Ahmad Shuja Wattoo become the ZC chairman.

In the 1998 local polls, Mian Muhammad Moeen Khan Wattoo was elected as chairman.

In October 1999, the govt of Mian Nawaz Sharif was removed by Gen Pervaiz Musharraf who introduced the new local government system.

In 2001 elections, Syed Sajjad Haider, three times member of parliament, was elected as the first district nazim.

Except Syed Sajjad Haider, all the chairmen/nazim of Okara district council came from Deepalpur tehsil. He belonged to Renala Khurd.

This time politicians from Okara tehsil were desperate to have their man rule the roost but failed against powerful Shah Muqeem and Tamir-i-Watan groups from Deepalpur.

Okara tehsil political figures have never been effective in the local politics. This was proved again during recent elections when Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal failed to get the top slot for his son despite his best efforts.

2005 ELECTIONS: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi started intervening in the district politics and declared official favour for the Shah Muqeem group and nominated Syed Asad Ali Shah Gillani for the top slot.

Former chief minister Manzoor Wattoo tried his level best to get the PML backing for his son but failed. Then he tried to have the district open, with no PML nominee, but did not succeed.

As a last resort, he formed an anti-government alliance with the help of Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal and other political figures of the district and nominated Rao Atif Sikandar as the district nazim candidate. No doubt the alliance was threatening for the Shah Muqeem group.

The chief minister with the backing of the federal government prevailed upon Rao and Wattoo to withdraw from the district nazim race. In return Rao’s son Atif Sikandar was given the district naib nazim slot and Wattoo’s son Khurram Jehangir Deepalpur tehsil nazim office, although the latter was comfortably placed to win it without any support.

On Oct 6 the only contest held in the district was for Renala tehsil nazim where PML’s ex-MPA Malik Muhammad Akram Bhatti defeated Bilal Ziauddin with a margin of 24 votes.

In Okara tehsil Rao Jamil Akhtar was elected unopposed when all other candidates withdrew their papers.

Similarly, Syed Asad Ali Shah Gillani was also elected district nazim unopposed when other candidates, including PPP’s district president Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna, withdrew their candidatures.