- Electioneering activities are not picking up in the metropolis and the delay is hurting the overall standing of the candidates
With exactly a month left for the much-awaited historic general elections to take place, the city is experiencing an eerie silence as political parties have yet to launch their election campaigns. The sights, sounds and colours, that buzz so to speak, associated with electioneering is nowhere to be seen. And even the good news about Basant that cheered the Lahoris also having been consigned to where it has been for while now – the state of limbo – there is precious little excitement on the street.
The reason for this sombre mood was said to be the hesitation shown of the main contestants for the prize of Lahore and Punjab, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in taking a leap of faith by naming their candidates for the city’s constituencies.
Both the mentioned parties have been delaying formally pitching their candidates on one pretext or the other. Interestingly, both the parties have witnessed some ugly infighting when within each of them tried to sway the selection process. The intensity of the clashes also spilled over outside the defined boundaries as some aspiring candidates openly protested to shout their own fellow party members out of contention.
Officially leaders from both these parties have announced that decisions would be made public after the scrutiny of candidacy papers was finalized. The scrutiny phase has now well behind us, yet there is little clarity on the issue. This dillydallying by the decision-makers in both the PML-N and the PTI does not bode well. Apart from precious campaign time being lost, the candidates in the metropolis might well burn out before the well before the kicked off.
It was possible that both the PML-N and the PTI wanted the other to divulge its candidates’ lineup first, so that the one following suit has the benefit of assessing its best option in what definitely is a high stakes game in the heart of Punjab.
Either that, or else the parties were damn sure about the success of their nominees no matter when the campaigning started.
Whatever be the case, without the candidates from two of the main parties joining the fray in their respective constituencies, the political campaign remains an insipid affair so far.
The delay in the announcement of candidates was already testing the nerves of the respective potential candidates. It is pertinent to mention here that there was a cutthroat competition going on among candidates over each and every constituency. “There are six or seven candidates in the race for the party ticket in each constituency. And nobody is sure who will be the lucky one,” said a PML-N leader.
The electioneering cannot commence in earnest because the hopefuls are too many in each constituency, and none is going to pump resources into his or her campaign until the issue is pending. It would not be wrong to say that the late arrival of candidates into the campaigning arena could affect their campaign in many ways.
In Pakistan’s political culture, it was a common practice to mostly accommodate candidates on first come first serve basis in their respective constituencies. If aspiring candidates were to approach a local group or influential personalities in their respective constituencies before the others contestants, they have a better chance of a steady cruise with the backing of influential local people. In such a culture, late comers were usually turned down with the traditional one-liner, “We have already made the commitment”.
The lethargic attitude of leaders from the PML-N and the PTI in announcing their candidates was proving a bit weighty for the unsure shoulders of aspiring candidates and they were not a bit amused with the languor brought on by the delaying tactics of their respective leaderships. The candidates believed that their late arrival in the constituencies would make it difficult for them to conduct door-to-door canvassing which was an important part of electioneering.
Interestingly, without receiving assurance from their respective parties, the candidates were finding themselves in a tight squeeze as they were unable to order the printing of their election posters, banners and other related articles required to attract public attention during election campaigns.
“Electioneering is a lengthy process. It takes some time before the required material is printed and then placed at different locations within the constituency,” a political leader said.
