Elections roundup: Monsoon and polls this July

We’re finally into July and as the monsoon season kicks in, Imran Khan is riding a wave. Or at least that is what the foreign media is seeing it as. Time Magazine said the other day that Khan is riding a popular wave of support The Guardian too has picked up on the support that he seems to be getting. The angle they gave to their story, however, was a very different one. “Imran Khan begins race to lead Pakistan but can he please the ‘umpires’?” The gist of the story? “In the run-up to elections, the former cricketer has drawn wide support as well as claims he is complicit with the military.”

The PTI’s campaign is really picking up, and although the mass defections that had been expected did not come about, there has been enough dissent within the League for it to be worrying. Moreover, there are voids forming within south Punjab and other areas where the league has been hit worst. That’s where the PTI is hoping to make inroads at the expense of the embattled PML-N.

But if the Guardian story is to be believed, Imran Khan has made a deal with the powers that be. If that is so, him losing is egg on the face of those allegedly backing him. At the same time, with such allegations against the PTI rife, Mian Nawaz has been sounding off from London about the ‘discrimination’ supposedly being carried out against candidates of his party.  The finger pointing got all the worse after a League ticket holder claimed that he had been harassed by member of military intelligence. Mian Nawaz came out swinging, only to have the said candidate backtrack and say that the ‘torture’ he had earlier gone through was a simple misunderstanding.

Strange sort of misunderstanding, but that is where things stand. The ECP, to its credit, has given a stern talking to the Punjab government for the alleged harassment of candidates taking place. CM Hasan Askari Rizvi has responded by saying that he is unpolitical and has never taken any sides on any political issue. Not only is that a hard pill to swallow, Rizvi’s vast column writing opus clearly denies his claim. But all such talk is normal for election time, and we still haven’t really gotten into the really messy parts of election season. Whatever does happen, the League has already warned of dire consequences, with Mian Nawaz saying the other day, “If polls are rigged, then a storm would rise that would be difficult to tackle.”

POSTSCRIPT:

Petrol prices have gone up under the caretaker by a significant amount and after a long time have crossed the Rs 100 mark. People are outraged. In the defence of the caretakers, administering the election is not their only job, they are also supposed to govern.

But a general sentiment in people has been that if prices should go up, they should be at the hands of an elected government. The people are getting anxious and want their next government, if only to know who is responsible for whatever in the world is going on.