MULTAN, Jul 15 (APP):The young contesting candidates from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are all set for a tough contest in PP-217 Multan, being held on July 17.
Both candidates represent the younger generation and have enjoyed stint in the power corridors only once.
PML-N candidate Salman Naeem debuted muscle flexing in the political arena in 2018 general elections when he had defeated PTI vice chairman and former foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi as an independent candidate.
He had later joined PTI, however, the seat was declared vacant by the ECP, necessitating by-polls.
Syed Zain Hussain Qureshi, the son of PTI stalwart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, also a debutant from 2018 elections had emerged winner from NA-157 constituency by defeating Syed Ali Musa Gilani, the son of former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and had served the country as parliamentary secretary of finance.
The two candidates energetically pushed their campaigns forward in PP-217, a provincial constituency that is almost 90 per cent urban and 10-12 per cent rural.
The urban area of this constituency runs from Pul Shaheedi Lal to Mumtazabad and beyond. Three big families (Beraderies) live in this constituency including Arain, Rajpoot and Bhutta.
In local bodies elections, chairmen of union councils used to be elected from Arain, Rajpoot and Bhutta families and elections used to be contested on the basis of support from them. PML-N’s Rana Noorul Hassan and his son Rana Mahmoodul Hassan besides PPP’s late Khursheed Khan had won elections from this area.
However, the role of the major families that was once considered decisive, was not as dominating as it once used to be, said Arshad Chaudhry, a political commentator and senior journalist.
It was partly because families of both candidates do not live in this constituency in greater number and partly because the sentiments arising out of party-based affiliations of the people are running high, said Arshad Chaudhry who lives in this constituency and believed it to be a good development, something that made this election not only tough but interesting too.
However, veteran journalist Mazhar Javed disagreed, saying family role can not be considered irrelevant outrightly saying that in our traditional family system youngsters give respect to elders and listen to what they say. He, however, admitted that families were divided on party lines.
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