Some soul searching for PTI?

Another reality check

Usual claims of rigging notwithstanding – though a little downplayed this time – the NA-101 by-election just confirms PTI’s downtrend. Right through the by-elections and local body polls it has not managed much to write home about. And each time it has blamed the loss on rigging, irregularities, etc, and threatened agitation, but never considered going back to the drawing board. Now, with campaigning season for the next big election just around the corner, perhaps the Wazirabad reality check will prompt some soul-searching in the ‘party of the masses’.

The first smart move would be to make and honest and sincere assessment of the problems. Going into the huddle believing they were robbed at every election at every level would be neither realistic nor practical. They must acknowledge, therefore, that their worries do not just revolve around their inability to convert their jalsa momentum into electoral victory. There are various issues in the working mechanism of the party, some of which are coming to the fore as it tries to conduct an internal election again. This time the vote has been delayed because some members were found misusing the new system to register more than one vote. Needless to say, this does not behoove a party that calls for taking the corrupt to task.

More specifically, though, PTI’s main problem is not taking the democratic system seriously. First, after not accepting the ’13 election result, it took the dharna way and sought to uproot the government. Then, going forward, it chose more agitation over partaking in the affairs of the House. As a result, most of the present electoral cycle has passed with PTI largely losing elections and threatening to jam the system while claiming to promote democracy. Surely party leaders will now admit that, looking back, it seems raising electoral problems in the Assembly, instead of on the streets, might have been a better idea. In order to regain some of its lost relevance the party must look inward and display the kind of political maturity that it has avoided so far.