The seismic shift that saw a major rift emerge within the traditionally inseparable house of the Chaudharys of Gujrat may have had its roots in the April 2022 vote of no-confidence against Imran Khan’s government, but its aftershocks are reverberating through the electoral landscape.

The Chaudharys have wielded an unmatched influence on central Punjab’s politics since the 1980s, having deep connections with other Punjabi political families, judges, the business elite, bureaucracy and the army — one of the main reasons they have long been considered ‘kingmakers’.