Islamabad - Campaigning for the upcoming general election is likely to gain momentum in Islamabad after the allotment of election symbols to the candidates today (Saturday).

With less than 25 days left for the polling, the election campaign in the city did not go beyond hanging banners, hoardings and big pictures of the candidates. The city is yet to wear a festive look and lacks enthusiasm on part of the voters, thanks to the summer season and the uncertainty associated with the pre-polling process as acceptance of the nomination papers and award of the party tickets to the candidates. For the first time in the election history, the country has witnessed rejection of nomination papers of the political bigwigs by the Returning Officers and the protests against award of party tickets by the political workers which led to a slow start of the election campaign. In some cases, the respective party leadership has had to change their decision vis-a-vis award of party tickets.

The pre-election process has witnessed rejection of nomination papers of Imran Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Fawad Chaudhary, though all three were later allowed to contest the polls. During the first phase of the election-related activity spanning over a month or so, the candidates struggled for the party tickets amidst uncertainty on account of acceptance of their nomination papers and could not start a full-fledged campaign.

At least three main candidates in Islamabad are from other constituencies/cities and ‘outsiders’ for the voters. Two of them; Imran Khan and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi are not in a position to run their election campaign themselves as Khan is contesting from four other constituencies while Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is also contesting from his home constituency in Rawalpindi/Murree. PTI has nominated Ali Awan, opposition leader in Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation to run the election campaign for the party chairman in NA-53. PTI’s Asad Umar is from Karachi, and has started addressing corner meetings but with no party camps on ground so far. Since the family of the candidates are not involved in the election campaign, it is hard to invite the party workers to be a part of the campaign. This might have been one of the reasons for a dull election campaign in the city.

A survey of the city suggests that the Islamabad candidates have not yet opened their election offices in smaller localities to convince the voters to poll votes for them on July 25. One can see hoardings, banners and big pictures of the candidates raised on electricity polls but there is no hustle bustle on ground. No bike rallies, no party flags, and nothing as slogans so far.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) are the real contenders for the three Islamabad seats for the National Assembly besides MMA’s Mian Aslam who has potential to win the election. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Mutihada Majlis Ammal (MMA), Milli Muslim League-backed Tehreek Allah-o-Akbar and independent candidates are also in the fray for the seats.

After the recent delimitation, the number of NA seats in Islamabad has increased from two to three. The city has been divided into three constituencies as NA-52, NA-53 and NA-54. PML-N has fielded Dr. Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Anjum Aqeel Khan as its candidates for NA-52, NA-53 and NA-54 respectively. PML-N’s Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhary, besides other candidates, will face PTI’s Raja Khurram Nawaz in NA-52; PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, also a former prime minister, will face PTI Chairman Imran Khan in NA-53 while PML-N’s Anjum Aqeel Khan will face PTI’s Asad Umar in NA-54.

MMA has fielded Jamaat-i-Islami’s Mian Aslam in NA-53 and NA-54. Raja Bilal Faisal will be the MMA candidate for NA-52. Raja Imran Ashraf, brother of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is the PPP candidate while Advocate Nosheen Kharal is the candidate of Justice and Democratic Party in NA-54. Milli Muslim League-backed Tehreek Allah-o-Akbar has also fielded Ch. Saeed Ahmed for an Islamabad seat. There are no provincial assembly seats in the federal capital. The candidates will get election symbols today (Saturday).

The constituency of NA-52 mostly comprises rural areas of the capital including housing societies located along the Islamabad Expressway all the way up to Rawat on the edge of Rawalpindi. Whereas, NA-53 consists of urban areas and posh localities. NA-54 comprises several urban areas and some rural areas of the capital, from Sector G-10 and onwards towards Tarnol as well as Sector I-10.

As the candidates have cleared all the hurdles of acceptance of their nomination papers and also got the party tickets, the campaign is likely to gain momentum in the coming days. Corner meetings, rallies, hoardings, banners and door-to-door visits are main features of the election campaign.

Tayyab Abbas, a government employee residing in sector G-9 observed that there is no pre-election atmosphere in the city so far. There have been no political camps, no gatherings and corner meetings.

He was of the view that the Karachi Company area had been the hub of election campaign but said, this time there has been no election fever so far. Talking to The Nation, he said the fever has yet not reached the grass root level.

He said until few days back, the candidates and even the political parties were not sure about their candidates in respective constituencies; some were denied tickets, some resorted to protests after denial of the tickets which practically restricted the candidates from a full-fledged election campaign. Now as the stage has set and the political parties have come up with a final line up, the electioneering is likely to gain momentum with each passing day.

On the other hand, the candidate of Tehreek Allah-o-Akbar seems cautious to start the election campaign as he is not seen publicly anywhere although the other candidates have started meetings with political figures in the city.