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Who's taking NA-55?
By Amber Rahim Shamsi
Monday, 22 Feb, 2010
ISLAMABAD: You know an election is hot when clichés like nura kushti and rigging are trotted out. What makes it hotter is when the already blood-soaked Liaqat Bagh becomes the object of a territorial tug of war. Until Sunday, the Awami Muslim League and the Pakistan Muslim League both wanted the historic ground for their own pre-election day rallies. Late Sunday night, however, AML president Sheikh Rasheed was cleared to hold his at Liaqat Bagh. But that may be a small victory compared to the battle ahead. And it hinges on one question.
Sheikh Rasheed may be quotable, but is he still electable? The toupeed, cigar-chomping celebrity politician will find the answer to this on February 24 when Rawalpindi votes for NA-55 VI. He appears to need the seat: hes gone to the courts for elections to be finally held, blamed the Punjab government for the attempt on his life a few weeks ago, and already pulled out the rigging card so that if he loses he can holler I told you so.
NA-55 was Sheikh Rasheeds constituency six times, until February 2008, when his alliance with the PMLQ and Pervez Musharraf cost him his stamping ground. Until then, he had been popular for his development works. Still, his Sheeda Tulli was down, but not out. Predicting the collapse of the PPP-led coalition government since it's been formed, hes been a television darling with his colourful turn of phrase and his candid insider disclosures to journalists. But is his AML a one-man show until he finds another ticket to the theatres of power? (One wonders if he sees the irony that his party has the same name as a breakaway faction of the All Pakistan Muslim League that eventually became Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans Awami League.)
The Q-League, meanwhile, is backing Rasheed in his campaign. Whether this will help or hurt him remains to be seen; perhaps Pindi voters have forgotten Lal Masjid and Rasheed's penchant for hitching a ride on the rising sun of the day, or maybe the citys chronic infrastructure problems will make them nostalgic for his nimble way with a development budget.
In any case, the PMLN is betting that development is the way to go. The partys candidate Shakil Awan has been promising five billion rupees pipelined directly from the Punjab chief minister for education, health, and traffic schemes. Awan has also been keen to remind voters of Rasheeds recent political affiliations and his involvement in the Lal Masjid operation. The contest in the constituency is clearly between these two former student leaders union council nazim and Pindi black sheep.
Still, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan is hoping his candidate Ejaz Khan Jazi has a shot. Given that he got only 143 votes in 2008 as an independent, it may be a long shot. But since the PTI unwisely opted out of the last general elections, the by-polls in Swat, Rawalpindi and Lahore are good net practice for the next. Although the party lost the Swat elections by a wide margin, the numbers were decent: the PTI candidate was a close third to second-in-place PMLQ. On the other hand, the Tehreek-e-Insaf may have had it easy in Swat in the absence of all the major parties, and Rawalpindi may prove to be a different story.
Here, the PTI is going up against the PMLN, Rasheed, and the Jamaat-e-Islami, with which it shares its rabid anti-American ideology. JIs Dr. Mohammad Kamal may not be a frontrunner, but he may cut into PTI votes. Meanwhile, Khan has been personally rallying for his man and clearly betting on the youth vote.
In the end, however, it wont matter whether Ejaz Khan Jazi wins because he wont but how many votes he gets. Its been 13 years since the PTI has launched itself into the electoral fray, and the time has come for Khans party to prove itself more than a one-man, drawing-room political party.
Three hundred and thirty three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-eight voters are registered in NA-55 (Rawalpindi-VI). Many of them have already voted for two PMLN candidates in the last two years the first in 2008s general elections and the second in by-elections. The first vacated his seat while the second exited under a scandal. Sheikh Rasheed will hope that voters go for him over the PMLN otherwise he may be carried away in the undertow with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam. Once youve sat with the captain, nothing is more painful than irrelevance.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Who's taking NA-55?
By Amber Rahim Shamsi
Monday, 22 Feb, 2010
ISLAMABAD: You know an election is hot when clichés like nura kushti and rigging are trotted out. What makes it hotter is when the already blood-soaked Liaqat Bagh becomes the object of a territorial tug of war. Until Sunday, the Awami Muslim League and the Pakistan Muslim League both wanted the historic ground for their own pre-election day rallies. Late Sunday night, however, AML president Sheikh Rasheed was cleared to hold his at Liaqat Bagh. But that may be a small victory compared to the battle ahead. And it hinges on one question.
Sheikh Rasheed may be quotable, but is he still electable? The toupeed, cigar-chomping celebrity politician will find the answer to this on February 24 when Rawalpindi votes for NA-55 VI. He appears to need the seat: hes gone to the courts for elections to be finally held, blamed the Punjab government for the attempt on his life a few weeks ago, and already pulled out the rigging card so that if he loses he can holler I told you so.
NA-55 was Sheikh Rasheeds constituency six times, until February 2008, when his alliance with the PMLQ and Pervez Musharraf cost him his stamping ground. Until then, he had been popular for his development works. Still, his Sheeda Tulli was down, but not out. Predicting the collapse of the PPP-led coalition government since it's been formed, hes been a television darling with his colourful turn of phrase and his candid insider disclosures to journalists. But is his AML a one-man show until he finds another ticket to the theatres of power? (One wonders if he sees the irony that his party has the same name as a breakaway faction of the All Pakistan Muslim League that eventually became Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans Awami League.)
The Q-League, meanwhile, is backing Rasheed in his campaign. Whether this will help or hurt him remains to be seen; perhaps Pindi voters have forgotten Lal Masjid and Rasheed's penchant for hitching a ride on the rising sun of the day, or maybe the citys chronic infrastructure problems will make them nostalgic for his nimble way with a development budget.
In any case, the PMLN is betting that development is the way to go. The partys candidate Shakil Awan has been promising five billion rupees pipelined directly from the Punjab chief minister for education, health, and traffic schemes. Awan has also been keen to remind voters of Rasheeds recent political affiliations and his involvement in the Lal Masjid operation. The contest in the constituency is clearly between these two former student leaders union council nazim and Pindi black sheep.
Still, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan is hoping his candidate Ejaz Khan Jazi has a shot. Given that he got only 143 votes in 2008 as an independent, it may be a long shot. But since the PTI unwisely opted out of the last general elections, the by-polls in Swat, Rawalpindi and Lahore are good net practice for the next. Although the party lost the Swat elections by a wide margin, the numbers were decent: the PTI candidate was a close third to second-in-place PMLQ. On the other hand, the Tehreek-e-Insaf may have had it easy in Swat in the absence of all the major parties, and Rawalpindi may prove to be a different story.
Here, the PTI is going up against the PMLN, Rasheed, and the Jamaat-e-Islami, with which it shares its rabid anti-American ideology. JIs Dr. Mohammad Kamal may not be a frontrunner, but he may cut into PTI votes. Meanwhile, Khan has been personally rallying for his man and clearly betting on the youth vote.
In the end, however, it wont matter whether Ejaz Khan Jazi wins because he wont but how many votes he gets. Its been 13 years since the PTI has launched itself into the electoral fray, and the time has come for Khans party to prove itself more than a one-man, drawing-room political party.
Three hundred and thirty three thousand, nine hundred and twenty-eight voters are registered in NA-55 (Rawalpindi-VI). Many of them have already voted for two PMLN candidates in the last two years the first in 2008s general elections and the second in by-elections. The first vacated his seat while the second exited under a scandal. Sheikh Rasheed will hope that voters go for him over the PMLN otherwise he may be carried away in the undertow with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam. Once youve sat with the captain, nothing is more painful than irrelevance.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | Who's taking NA-55?
yup if fair election then indeed sheeda talli will win.
