LAHORE - Electioneering by candidates of all parties contesting election in 14 national and 30 provincial constituencies in the provincial metropolis is in full swing.

Ticket holders of PML-N, PTI, PPP, MMA, Milli Muslim League, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and independent candidates yesterday addressed different corner meetings and took out rallies in their constituencies.

The supporters and local leaders were at forefront of campaigns in constituencies where PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz are contesting polls.  The Deras and houses of election candidates were packed with people and vehicles. Food, juices and sweets are being served to voters and supporters of different parties.

The candidates are focusing on underdeveloped and slum localities as compared to posh areas like Model Town, Gulberg, DHA and other developed housing societies.

Meanwhile, Islami Tehrik and the Shia Ulema Council have announced their support for the MMA candidate in NA-130, Liaqat Baloch, in the upcoming election.

The announcement was made by Islami Tehrik leaders Allama Sibtain Haider and Hafiz Raza Kazim at a joint press conference with Liaqat Baloch here on Sunday. Addressing the Shia community on the occasion, Liaqat Baloch said the religious alliance was fighting against the opportunists and self-seeking politicians who had been ruling the country for the last seventy years.

He said that the MMA would provide a neat and clean leadership to the masses and pull the country out of crises. The energy crisis would be resolved and the image of the homeland would be raised in the comity of nations through policies of self reliance. He expressed the hope that the MMA would lead the country to an Islamic revolution with the enforcement of the system given by the Holy Quran and the Sunnah. He was sure that the corrupt mafias would face a major defeat in the elections.  

Liaqat Baloch called upon the government to withdraw the raise in the POL prices and said that the raise by the caretaker government was a contempt of the court. He said that sharp rise in the POL prices would lead to exorbitant raise in the prices of each and every thing and add to the problems of the general public. Addressing corner meetings in his constituency, the MMA candidate said that the former ruling party was facing problems because of its misdeeds but the cobbling up of the disgruntled elements from all parties was bringing bad name to politics and democracy as such. Liaqat Baloch impressed upon the Supreme Court to initiate the accountability of the 435 other persons named by the Panama Papers.