NA-55: In ‘Nawaz verses all’–Sheikh Rashid leads

The National Assembly constituency NA-55, where by-elections are going to be held for the third time on Feb 24 in just three years, has an interesting election history.

Once considered a PPP stronghold in the 1970’s, the country’s biggest political party could not win this seat since 1985, as its vote bank shrank with every election due to deep-seated divisions in its local leadership. The present NA-55 (Rawalpindi-VI) constituency (April 14, 1972 to March 7, 1977) was then called NA-26 (Rawalpindi-I) because when the elections were held Pakistan was a united country. Khurshid Hassan Meer of PPP was elected from this constituency.
Rawalpindi deprived of representation

• Awami Muslim League president says he is the ‘real voice’ of garrison city

• … if the PPP voters favoured him en bloc, he would certainly carry the day. They PPP voters are unlikely to vote for the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s Ejaz Khan Jazi, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Dr Kamal or Shakeel Awan.

• …another vital aspect is that as the PPP rank and file feels humbled and cornered over the unrelenting attack of the PML-N, its voters may avenge its humiliation by the PML-N by voting for Sheikh Rashid just to defeat Shakeel Awan.

• If the past two elections in NA-55 constituency of 334,269 votes — 150,762 females and 183,507 males — are any guide, the PML-N’s vote has been on the decline. If it failed to put a full stop to this decline, it would be running for its life.

• In the 2008 general elections, PML-N stalwart Makhdoom Javed Hashmi had won with a convincing margin of 76,980 votes while PPP’s Fida Paracha had bagged 37,397 votes. However, a few months later, PML-N’s Haji Pervez Khan had secured just 25,237 votes in the by-poll, which normally remain a low key affair.

• In the general elections, Sheikh Rashid, then fielded by the PML-Q, had bagged just 15,870 votes that had brought him only humiliation.

• Fearing he may face further embarrassment, he preferred not to contest the by-election that Pervez Khan had won. Sheikh Rashid’s defeat would bring to an end his politics but his nuisance value will stay.

• The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) has much more at stake than loner Sheikh Rashid in Wednesday’s contest on NA-55 in Rawalpindi. Nawaz Sharif’s party will receive a huge dent to its political profile if it lost. For Sheikh Rashid, however, life will go on as usual.

• Sheikh Rashid is just one political individual, having no political party worth the name to be proud of. Therefore, if he was routed, he would personally suffer somewhat but he will keep his successful shows on private TV channels.

• The general elections for the ninth National Assembly (November 3, 1990 to July 11, 1993) were held on October 24, 1990.

• Sheikh Rashid Ahmed won the seat, defeating eight candidates including the PPP-backed Ch Mushtaq Hussain of PDA. Ahmed was polled 78,107 votes, while Mushtaq secured 54,701 votes

RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Monday said that the citizens of Rawalpindi were being ‘deliberately’ deprived of their right to political representation in parliament, and they have been treated as orphans in the last couple of years.

Addressing a big public gathering at Liaqat Bagh, held in connection with the by-elections for the NA-55 constituency (Rawalpindi), the AML president said that the “so called champions of democracy” in the country had been holding secret meetings for their personal benefit.

He went on to claim that conspiracies have been hatched since the last two years to deprive the people of Rawalpindi of their rights to political representation in parliament. In the current circumstances, Pakistan has been “sandwiched” with the Indian threat on one side and the NATO forces building up pressure on the other, the AML president added.

The AML president said that he was the “real voice” of Rawalpindi, and the people of the city will return his love for the city in the form of their votes for the “Qalam Dawat”. online

RAWALPINDI: Riding the sympathy wave after a recent attempt on his life coupled with strong canvassing, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed of Awami Muslim League is likely to get a run for his money in the NA-55 by-election for which campaign end at midnight on Monday.

In this constituency of 334,269 voters, 22 candidates are running for the national assembly seat with the Pakistan People’s Party vote playing a crucial role in shaping up the election results.

The six-time winner from the constituency in a row until 2008 when his surety bond was confiscated in the general elections, Sheikh Rashid forced the top PML-N leadership into coming to the constituency on the last day of the campaign to drum up support for its candidate, Malik Shakeel Awan, amid security risks.

Political observers see the situation ‘Nawaz verses all’, saying the anti-PPP vote of the right wing will go to the Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which boycotted the 2008 general elections but vigorously run their campaigns, besides other candidates.

The JI fielded an old, tested guard, Dr Kamal, while PTI’s Ejaz Khan Jazi whose campaign was led by Imran Khan cannot be ignored in the whole scenario.

Former Kings Party now led by Chaudhrys of Gujrat has openly extended support of Sheikh Rashid, while the PPP is said to be in tacit understanding with the AML chief, whose second tier leadership in the city is persuading the Zardari-led ruling party’s workers to back him to change the myth that the constituency has always been for Nawaz. The PPP workers organised corner meetings for Rashid but also, many of the polling agents he has chosen to monitor polling stations are said to be from the PPP.

During the election campaign, Sheikh not only tried to benefit from the recent bid on his life, but also he promised to continue working for improving education facilities and completing mega development projects announced during the PML-Q government.

The PML-N, on the other hand, focused on the anti-Sheikh strategy highlighting wrongdoings of the Musharraf government of which the AML chief was also a part.

Both PTI, which is poplar among youngsters, and Jamaat-e-Islami campaigned for a ‘change in system’ while criticising both the PPP and the PML-N.

It is believed that the PPP has 25,000 to 30,000 votes in the constituency and the JI 5,000 to 8,000. PTI’s Ejaz Khan Jazi grabbed 12205 votes in the 2008 by-election from the constituency as an independent candidate. Sheikh Rashid fielded by the PML-Q faced embarrassing defeat in the said election by bagging 15,870 votes only.

PPP’s candidate Malik Aamer Fida Paracha bagged 37,397 votes in the 2008 general election, which was won by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of the PML-N with a big margin. He secured 76,980 votes in the contest, which was considered anti-Musharraf referendum.

The PML-N popularity, however, declined during the months ahead and that was highlighted by the win of PML-N candidate Haji Pervez Khan, who secured 25,237 votes. The seat was later vacated a year later after he was found guilty of cheating in an examination.

In a situation where it seems ‘Nawaz verses all’, if its candidate Shakeel Awan, a worker from the grassroots level, becomes the MNA, it’ll be another PML-N landmark. However, observers see it, as not easy a contest for the PML-N after Sheikh Rashid by playing thoughtfully during the campaign has made it an interesting if not razor-edge contest. Can Sheikh Rashid pull a blinder? * Observers see ‘Nawaz vs all’ in tomorrow’s contest; PPP vote has a crucial role to play By Irfan Ghauri

The elections for the 10th National Assembly (March 15, 1993 to November 5, 1996) were held on October 6, 1993. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was elected on the ticket of PML-N, securing 80,758 votes followed by Agha Riaz-ul-Islam of PPP who got 53,841 votes. However, the assembly was dissolved by the then President Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari on November 5, 1996.

The elections for the11th National Assembly (February 15, 1997 to October 12, 1999) were held on February 3, 1997. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was elected from NA-38 on the ticket of PML-N. Ahmed was polled 72,183 votes followed by Badshah Mir Khan Afridi (independent, 6,228 votes), Muhammad Akmal Mirza of PTI (3,806 votes) and Naheed Khan of PPP (24,714 votes).

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed contested the election in 2002 as an independent candidate and got 40,649 votes. His runner-up was again PPP’s Agha Riaz-ul-Islam, who got 28,885 votes.

This was Ahmed’s sixth consecutive win. After wining the election, he joined PML-Q, disappointing the voters.

In the 2008 general elections, Ahmed faced an embarrassing defeat at the hands of PML-N candidate Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, who secured 76,980 votes. Ahmed got his sureties seized for both NA-55 and NA-56. In 2008 general elections, the registered voters in NA-55 were 333,928. A total of 131,533 votes were cast out of which 131,676 were declared valid, while the remaining 2,279 were rejected. The turnout was recorded as 39.38 per cent.

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on Feb 24 2010. Filed under Editorials, Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry