LAHORE: As election results started to trickle in on Thursday, the PML-N leadership which had huddled at the party headquarters of Model Town in Lahore abruptly ended the meeting without the ‘anticipated’ victory speech, as a despondent former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left for Jati Umra amid reports of his party’s “poor performance” in its heartland of Punjab.

Sources told Dawn that the PML-N supreme leader had reached Model Town along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz and party chief Shehbaz Sharif to deliver a “victory speech”, hoping his party would bag victory in the province, which has more National Assembly seats than any other province.

The initial result which came as a surprise for the PML-N leadership dampened the festive mood in Model Town, leaving its supremo in a “bad mood”.

“When the results star­ted coming in, the PML-N lea­dership present at Model Town got worried. Their body language suddenly changed. Smiles on the faces of Nawaz, Maryam and other leaders vanished,” an insider told Dawn.

Nawaz reportedly leaves party headquarters in a ‘bad mood’ without making ‘victory speech’

The PML-N workers who had started arriving at the party headquarters to “celebrate the election win” also found themselves in an awkward situation after learning about the initial performance of the party candidates.

As elections result faced an inordinate delay due to unknown reasons, the PML-N leaders chose to remain silent in the face of their dismal performance. PML-N spokesperson Marri­yum Aurangzeb did not respond to Dawn’s query regarding the “perceived defeat” of its candidates.

‘No coalition government’

Before the initial results, the Sharif family was confident about forming a government and Nawaz Sharif said he was not interested in forming a coalition government after the polls because of the complications it entails.

“For God’s sake…do not talk about forming a coalition government,” Mr Sharif replied to a question whether he would like to go for coalition setup after the polls. He was talking to reporters after casting vote in Model Town.

Accompanied by Maryam Nawaz, the elder Sharif said: “Mandate should be given to a single party to form the government so that it could address the challenges the country is facing today. In a coalition government, there is dependence on others, which is not the case in case of the rule of one party.” He said if his party was voted to power it would manage the economy and reduce inflation.

When asked whether his daughter Maryam Nawaz would be chief minister of Punjab in case the PML-N emerged victorious, Nawaz Sharif did not rule it out, saying: “Maryam had given many sacrifices as she and other PML-N leaders had also gone to jail. We are here after making sacrifices.” During his election campaign, Nawaz Sharif made a ‘passionate appeal’ for a ‘simple majority’ so that the PML-N could steer the country out of economic crisis.

Earlier, PML-N Presi­dent Shehbaz Sharif had said Nawaz Sharif would be the prime minister if the PML-N got ‘simple majority. “In case we remain short of a simple majority, the party will decide who will be the prime ministerial candidate,” Shehbaz Sharif said.

Polling

Most of the polling stations of four NA constituencies of the Sharif family members in Lahore witnessed low turnout in the morning, prompting the PML-N ranks to bring their voters out as a lot more was at stake.

During a Dawn visit to different polling stations of NA-130 of Nawaz Sharif, NA-123 Shehbaz Sharif, NA-119 Maryam Nawaz and NA-118 Hamza Shehbaz, the first two hours of the morning saw a low turnout. Only 150 votes had been cast against over 2,000 registered votes at one polling station.

The polling, however, picked up in the afternoon and during the last two hours long queues were witnessed.

Gowalmandi, which was once a ‘home’ of the Sharif family, gave a festive look as its streets were totally covered with Hamza Shehbaz banners and his supporters had set up several camps there and an impression was driven that perhaps only one candidate was contesting from there. At Gowalmandi’s Islamia Model High School polling station, the PTI-backed NA candidate Aliya Hamza’s polling agent was not present. The presiding officer told Dawn that she had not stopped any polling agent.

Nawaz and Maryam’s constituencies also wore a festive look, with PML-N vehicles playing party anthems. In PP-149, which falls under Maryam’s NA-119, IPP’s Aleem Khan was contesting from it. Aleem had Maryam’s picture on all his banners, posters and panaflexes in the constituency. Shehbaz Sharif’s NA-123 had a rural electorate of the city where the party men were busy transporting voters from their homes.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2024