Lessons for all
At the time of writing, unofficial results suggested, pretty strongly, that PML-N had edged out PTI in the NA-122 by-election after quite a nail-biter; so much so that the N-league felt confident enough to declare a cautious victory. PML-N’s formal reaction should be straight forward enough, should official results confirm the trend. But PTI will definitely have to go back to the drawing board once again. It can no longer claim Sadiq rigged his way into the assembly. Army presence at the polling booths ensured fair play as well as discipline that is usually missing from such exercises. Throughout the day, polling officials stressed that the army must be commended for ensuring a smooth ride.
PTI seems to have made a habit of not converting its social mobilisation into quantifiable votes when it counts. On plenty of occasions now, it has been unable to snowball its jalsa momentum into a game-changer at the polls. To make matters worse, it seems also to have developed a superiority complex that does not suit a party with PTI’s electoral track record. Reporters covering the by-poll spoke of N-league workers showing up for the vote bright and early, whereas PTI workers chose to celebrate first and vote later, clearly taking the win for granted. There were also reports of PTI women workers reaching polling stations quite late, causing unhelpful bottlenecks.
More importantly, though, it is important to note the excesses of this election – by both sides. There was an unnecessarily extravagant use of money in the campaign. Once again both parties have proved that politics remains the playground of the super-rich only. The campaigns were also low on manifesto and party positions and full of hate mongering and bad mouthing the other, hardly an exercise in proper democratic politics. It seems our defenders of democracy are more in need of lessons in politics than people they call to vote for them. For the moment, though, it seems the N league will draw maximum mileage from the win, while PTI will have some explaining to do, both within the party and outside it.