DERA GHAZI KHAN: Political scientists say that in the 2024 elections, camouflaged voters, mostly youngsters and womenfolk in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, have rendered tribal chiefs and old parliamentarians irrelevant.

The results show that PTI-backed independent candidates, hailing from a common walk of life and lacking enough previous parliamentary records, won public support and enough seats.

This correspondent spoke to political observers who said that during electioneering, voters attended corner meetings of traditional candidates of PML-N and PPP, but they went there as onlookers. The outcome of the polling was otherwise, as they supported the PTI candidates.

Political pundits are of the opinion that the 2024 elections have further weakened the already decaying tribal system, including tribal elders and old influential parliamentarian figures of the area.

In the past, in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur politics was in the hands of elders of Qaisrani, Buzdar, Lound, Khosa, Leghari, Gorchani, Darishak, and Mazari tribes. Influential Khawjgan of Taunsa also remained part of parliamentary families of the area. This time traditional electable candidates opted for PML-N and PPP tickets for the election. On the other hand, Pakistan Tehreek A Insaf backed independent candidates who had not enough parliamentary records contested elections.

Khawja Sheraz, hailing from the old parliamentary family of Khawjgan, was an exception as he stood by the PTI and defeated Khosa tribal elder Amjad Farooq Khosa of the PMLN on NA-183.

Qaisrani tribal chief Mir Badshah Qaisrani on PP-284 was defeated by young candidate, Hafiz Tahir who has no strong political background.

Tribal elders - independent candidate Jaafar Buzdar and Akram Khan Malghani of PPP - were defeated on PP 285 by Khawja Nizam of the PML-N.

In NA-184, Khosa tribal chief Zulfiqar Khosa, and Lound tribal elder Javed Akhtar Lound could not win the elections. The area which falls in NA-184 is in a strong grip of tribal elders of Khosa and Lound tribes and also badly hit by armed gangs.

Abdul Qadir Khosa of the PML-N on NA-184 faced a lot of uncertainty until the announcement of his official results – 110,999 - while his close rival Ali Ahmed Rata of the PTI claimed that he had won the election but the results were manipulated. He said he would challenge the result in court.

In NA-185, a memorable electoral battle was witnessed. On the surface or on the ground regarding electioneering, PPP, independent candidates backed by PMLN remained dominant, as PTI’s Zartaj Gull could not steer her campaign properly. She was restricted from holding public gatherings on the last day of electioneering. The deputy commissioner claims that she had not properly applied for the public gathering within due time. Despite restrictions, she steered mostly her campaign through social media and bravely faced legal hurdles in her way.

Camouflaged voters overwhelmingly voted against unemployment, bleak future of youth, and high price hikes. After the election, she made an appeal to her workers to guard their votes by standing outside RO’s office. She succeeded in obtaining her official result after hectic efforts. She defeated Leghari elder Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari in 2018. This time Awais Leghari did not file papers against her and put an independent candidate backed by the PML-N. She obtained 94,000 votes while former chief minister Punjab Dost Muhammed Khosa and independent candidate business tycoon Mehmood Qadir Leghari could not cross 50,000 votes.

In NA-186, PTI candidate Sajjad Cheena got record votes. He claimed that he had won the contest against Awais Leghari of the PML-N but later he was declared unsuccessful. He said he would challenge the result in court.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024