NOORPUR THAL
The electioneering for the third phase of the local bodies to be held on December 5 has accelerated with convening of corner meetings while neck and neck contests are expected among PML-N, PTI and independents.
There are 48 union councils and 7 municipal committees in Khushab district. The Election Commission has appointed 610 presiding officers, 1,430 assistant presiding officers and 1,430 polling officers to ensure smooth flow of polling process.
Under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance, Municipal Committee Noorpur Thal has been restored where 12 wards have been constituted. There are 32 candidates vying for the slots of general councillors, while Malik Muhammad Hussain Advocate has been elected unopposed in Ward No-5. PML-N does have field candidates in 11 wards while the PTI have fielded candidates in 5 wards and 16 independent candidates are also in the run.
There are a total of 32 candidates in the run.
A total of 136,161 voters including 61,941 female voters will use their right of vote in the Tehsil. The election would be held in 12 union councils.
The mainstream political parties including PML-N and PTI vowed to give on another a hard time in the local bodies elections. The independents are also flexing their political muscles. The candidates are now moving door-to-door asking people to vote them.
The supporters of the most of the candidates are often found dancing and performing Bhangras on drum beats at their roadside election cells in the city. The hustle and bustle starts after evenings at the political parties offices where the parties leaders contact the voters for their support in favour of their respective candidates. It appears that the public has put everything behind and their attention is focused on the elections and efforts to make their respective candidates win.
The PML-N candidates have displayed the tigers as their electoral symbols, while the PTI candidates are distributing bats among people.
On the other hand, the independent candidates having “bucket” (Baalti) electoral symbols are distributing small and big sized buckets carrying sweets and candidates having “Goat” (Bakri) symbol are distributing milk-packets along with photo of goat.
According to the survey of this scribe, hurt by the party’s political attitude, the old workers are hopeful to dent PML-N and win the LB polls by contesting as independent candidates in the Tehsil.
According to political observers, the disheartened workers having strong potential to make upsets by defeating the rival candidates including PML-N in their union councils and wards in the Thal.
PML-N MNA Malik Shakir Bashir Awan, PML-N MPA Malik Muhammad Waris Kallu and other local leaders are supervising the LB polls scenario while PTI central leaders Malik Ehsan Ullah Tiwana and Malik Gul Asghar Baghoor are supervising the election campaign of their party in the Thal.