More than 700 candidates will compete for various slots in the district and towns of the metropolitan while 2,000 voters will decide who they want to elect Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Lahore president in the intra-party elections today (Tuesday).
The general public in the 160 union councils of the metropolitan elected 13 office bearers in each constituency while these elected representatives are now going to elect a district president and general secretary and other officials for the district and other 10 towns.
According to details, 7 people are contesting for the most coveted slot of the president, with the three major candidates being Mahmoodur Rasheed, Farooq Amjad Mir and Abdul Aleem Khan. Prominent among the seven contestants for the slot of general secretary are Mian Azhar’s son Barrister Hammad Azhar and Abdul Rasheed Bhatti. Eight candidates are contesting for two seats of senior vice president, while 15 and 11 for vice president slot general and women.
Each voter will cast 47 votes to elect various office bearers in his/her town as well as the district. Ten booths will be set up in 10 towns where the voters will cast their votes in favour of their candidates.
Insiders told the scribe that all kinds of “traditional” tactics were being employed by the candidates to woo the voters, while huge amounts of money have been spent. “The actual competition is between Mehmood ur Rashid, considered to be a genuine PTI worker and Abdul Aleem Khan who the majority thinks is trying to make his space by spending money. Mir turns out to be a candidate who can gain benefit from the situation,” a PTI office-bearer, on the condition of anonymity, told Pakistan Today.
A female voter as well as contestant from Cantonment, on the condition of anonymity, further said such a large number of people contesting for various slots—almost half the number of voters—shows how people at large want representation and to lead a political life. “The PTI is giving people this space at a time when the governments are not willing to hold local government elections where such a large number can be given representation,” she said. To a question, she said the “genuine” PTI worker does not like “leg-pulling” and other traditional tactics being used by “few” groups within the party. “We will vote for someone respectable, neutral and true to the party’s cause,” she added.
However, another candidate maintained that the elections were indirect and hence most of the voters who themselves got elected with the support from one group or the other will obviously vote for their panel, although the panels are not recognised by the PTI’s election commission.