Strategies and their viability
The PTI has announced the names of most of its ticket holders. As a good number comprises turncoats who have been nominated at the expense of old timers there have been protests within the party. Imran Khan had to set up “reconciliatory committees” that would attempt to sort out differences ahead of the July 25 polls. Failing to win over a big chunk of electables from the PML-N despite bloated claims, the PTI has been forced to add to it list outsiders who had won only once in the past and upgraded former MPAs from other parties to NA slots. It remains to be seen if the strategy can bring the PTI anywhere near its target of 90 NA seats from Punjab.
The PML-N faces altogether new problems. The party is fighting elections when it happens to be on the wrong side of the establishment. In 2008 it contested under a hostile Perez Musharraf and still won Punjab. But after shedding uniform Musharraf had become fangless and was seen to be on his way out. This time the PML-N complains of threatening phone calls to those applying for party tickets. It also claims that a major section of the electronic media is working under a plan to defeat it. The PML-N is meditating local alliances with every party, except the PTI and PPP, which is willing to be game. This has caused delay in the announcement of its candidates.
The PPP leadership lost heart when Zardari’s wheeling and dealing failed to attract even a few candidates capable of winning their seats from Punjab. The response from KP and Balochistan was equally discouraging. Zardari finally realized that there was no way the PPP could form a government anywhere outside Sindh. It was subsequently decided to win over those in interior Sindh who had joined other parties and make use of the divisions within MQM to win some seats from Karachi as well. The new strategy is likely to leave PPP where it landed itself in 2013 on account of its lack of responsiveness to the common man’s problems.