KARACHI, Dec 14: With just over three weeks left in the polling schedule till the January 8 general elections, there appears to be no visible electioneering fervour in the metropolis, with the exception of a few banners and party flags here and there.

The three major parties – the Pakistan People’s Party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Awami National Party – so far have kept their candidates’ campaigns restricted to organising corner meetings or making their presence felt in the field through press conferences.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which has remained a dominant force on Karachi’s political scene since 1985, is an exception to the above as not only has its chief Altaf Hussain been addressing workers, but leaders of the MQM’s Rabita Committee such as Farooq Sattar and others have also held a couple of large gatherings, besides addressing corner meetings.

Although the PPP was the first to announce its party manifesto, followed by the PML-Q, PML-N and MQM, other parties appear to still be in the process of finalising their election charters in order to kick off their campaigns.

According to analysts, one of the main reasons behind the slow pace of electioneering in Karachi was the indecision of the parties on seat adjustments to field the most suitable candidates who could compete with the MQM’s contenders.

Another reason attributed to the low-key political activities is the Election Commission’s code of conduct, which states that political parties have to apply for permission before taking out rallies and holding public meetings, restricted to specified routes and venues which are yet to be notified by the city district government.

In Karachi, over 600 aspirants are in the run against 42 seats of the Sindh Assembly. According to the Election Commission’s list of eligible candidates, on each seat there are more than half a dozen aspirants while there are other seats where the number of candidates has crossed two dozen. For example in PS-126, there are 34 candidates in the run, followed by PS-130 with 28 and PS-128 with 24 candidates.

The number of candidates put up by mainstream parties against each seat notwithstanding, their indecision on seat adjustments is an indication that they were not taking the election challenge seriously. This, say analysts, is why there was no manifestation of election fever so far, which used to be a hallmark of elections in the past.

Analysts were also of the opinion that electioneering could pick up pace after Dec 15 (today) when only contesting candidates would remain in the field and covering candidates would be withdrawn.

The PML-Q, according to its Sindh chapter president Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, was negotiating with the MQM and other members of the former ruling coalition for seat adjustments in the province, including Karachi. However, no progress has so far been made.

According to PML-Q circles, there are over half a dozen seats in the periphery of the metropolis from where parties other than the MQM could sneak into the assembly and if the PML-Q and MQM joined hands, there is a strong possibility of winning the seats. They pointed out that in the last assembly, the MQM had 28 seats from Karachi.

The Pakistan People’s Party, which had also fielded candidates from almost every constituency in Karachi, appeared active only in Malir and Lyari, where its contenders had started holding corner meetings. In these parts of the city, PPP flags, banners and posters of party chairperson Benazir Bhutto presented a semblance of electioneering.

Likewise in Mehmoodabad, Keamari Town, parts of Clifton and at some other places, Pakistan Muslim League-N flags and Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif’s posters are more visible than others.

In the old Sabzi Mandi area, Site, Banaras Colony, Frontier Colony and Landhi, the Awami National Party’s flags, posters and banners of their candidates have started appearing.

But despite these flags, banners and other paraphernalia, there appeared neither any hectic political activity nor did party workers appear enthusiastic about canvassing for their party candidates. This apathy among political workers is attributed by analysts to the uncertain situation prevailing in the country because of the ongoing army operation in Swat and Waziristan, unrest in Balochistan and repeated accusations from mainstream political parties claiming that free and fair elections cannot be expected in the given situation

Also, the fact that party workers had been asked to agitate against the rigging of elections had forced candidates to carry on their election campaigns in a low-key manner by controlling their expenditure on electioneering activities.

The analysts were of the view that after the lifting of the emergency and publication of the final list of candidates, electioneering is likely to take off, but not to levels seen in the last election because of the restrictions enforced by the government to control election fever through the code of conduct.