LAHORE - Javed Hashmi was thinking that he would gain popularity on account of his role in ‘saving democracy’, but the political tsunami ousted him from the arena.
His defeat, it appears, will seal his political future and cause tremendous embarrassment to the ruling PML-N which had extended to him all-out support.
Accepting defeat much before the announcement of even unofficial results of NA-149, Multan, Hashmi apparently acknowledged the claims of his former party leaders who maintained that magic of the series of PTI public meetings had left persuasive effects on the minds of the masses who want a real change.
Hashmi on Thursday lost the by-poll to Dogar with a margin of more than 10,000 votes, which indicates that the voters of NA-149 did not support Hashmi’s claims concerning ‘saving democracy’.
At the same time, PTI which seemingly has achieved its target of rubbing the nose of Hashmi in dust for ditching the party would portray Hashmi’s defeat as the party’s success on the front of anti-government campaign.
The self-proclaimed ‘rebel’ from Multan left PTI, levelling charges against the top leadership of making bids to oust the democratically elected government of the PML-N with the alleged support of the military establishment and the judiciary.
In consequence of his decision, he resigned from his National Assembly seat which he had won on the PTI ticket in the May 2013 elections and also stepped down as the party’s central president.
In the general elections of 2013, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi as a PTI candidate emerged victorious from NA-149 by getting 83,569 ballots, Sheikh Tariq Rasheed of PML-N was runner up by securing 73,861 and Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar of PPP-P got 20,703 remaining third in the line of contestants.
According to unofficial results, PTI-backed candidate Malik Aamir Dogar secured 57,972 votes and PML-N-supported Javed Hashmi bagged 47,500 ballots while turnout was 25 percent.
The results of the 2013 general elections and Thursday’s by-election in NA-149 show that both PTI and PML-N have retained their vote bank as in 2013 and 2014 the PTI-supported candidate defeated the PML-N-backed contender with a margin of more than 10,000 votes.
In the 2013 general elections with increased turnout of around 55 percent, PTI won the polls from NA-149 by securing nearly 44 percent of the polled ballots and PML-N emerged as runner up by bagging more than 39 percent of the polled votes.
The unofficial results of 2014 by-election in the same constituency show that the PTI-backed and PML-N-supported candidates with approximate turnout of 25 percent secured 15 and 12 percent of the polled ballots.
The results of NA-149 is a predominantly urban constituency where electoral trends or practices do not entirely depend on clan and caste affiliations as the party affiliations and local groupings play important electoral factors in winning the polls.
The results of the political battle in NA-149 also establish a vital fact that it is a two-party constituency which includes PTI in the lead and PML-N tailing it. The PPP, which once had strong impact on the same constituency, is thinning out.
PTI senior leader Mian Mehmood-ur-Rasheed, commenting on the victory of his party-backed candidate, Aamir Dogar, claimed the people had voted in favour of ‘Go Nawaz Go’ and declared all-out support for Imran Khan.
He claimed that the results of NA-149 clearly reflect the demand of the masses for re-election to undo the foul play in 2013 general elections.
PML-N veteran leader Pervaiz Malik, commenting on the NA-149 by-polls, claimed his party was not supporting Javed Hashmi, adding had the party supported him, he would have been the winner. However, he said that there were PML-N voters who had voted for Javed Hashmi and the party had nothing to do with it.
Pervaiz said that veteran local leadership of Multan was angry with Hashmi for ditching the party in the past and opposed the party decision of even unannounced support for him.
PPP senior leader Shaukat Basra, when called, remarked that PTI had retained its seat. He said if Aamir Dogar had not betrayed the party, PPP could give a tough time to the other candidates of NA-149.
He remarked that PTI must understand the fact after retaining its seat in Multan that change could only be brought by ballot and not through container sit-ins.