Pakistan People's Party Lahore President and candidate for NA-130 Samina Khalid Ghurki, is favourite from one of constituencies of the city where major families are in the competition.
Awans, Butts, Ghurkis, Diyals and Dogras are some important families that dominate politics in the constituency which comprises 12-and-a-half Lahore Union Councils (UC) and borders India. About 350,000 voters are registered in NA-130 and a majority of the population is rural.
Some villages of the constituency including Wagha, Burki, Hadiara, Thatha Tararan, Qalia Jewan Singh, Thapura, Banochack, Ghurki, Sanakey, Lalo, Diyal and Bhaseen are along the border (zero line) with India.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz fielded Sohail Shoukat Butt while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Inasaf put forward Talib Sindhu and Samina Khalid Ghurki is the Pakistan People's Party's candidate while the Jamaat-i-Islami has given a ticket to Chaudhry Manzoor Gujjar.
Most people in the area are of low-income groups including mechanics, electricians, skilled or unskilled masons, carpenters and cobblers. Former caretaker Prime Minister Malik Meraj Khalid and Jamaat-e-Islami's Qazi Hussain Ahmed contested elections from the area.
Muhammad Asghar Ghurki became MNA in 1985 in partyless general elections, Malik Miraj Khalid of the PPP won in 1988, Pakistan Muslim League's Ashiq Diyal won the constituency in 1990, PPP's Khalid Ghurki in 1993, Ashiq Diyal as an independent candidate won in 1997 and Samina Khalid Ghurki was elected twice in 2002 and 2008.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz did not give party ticket to any candidate in the last three elections (1997, 2002 and 2008) and even this time its candidate is considered weak.
The PPP has remained the popular party. The Diyals have allied themselves with the Ghurki family and have a ticket for PP-158 after refusal of tickets from the PML-N.
PML-N's Sohail Shaukat Butt was defeated in the past by the PPP nominee from the PP-157 seat. Heavy load shedding in the area during the past five years seems to be the biggest factor against the two-time winner Samina Ghurki.
JI's candidate Gujjar is popular in rural areas. He has the support of his biradari and has been twice elected as nazim from Lakhodar (Union Council-42).
Holding an engineering degree, the JI candidate is seen as strong.
The NA-130 constituency has two provincial constituencies, PP-157 and PP-158. In PP-157, the PML-N has put forward Rana Tajammul while Hammad Sarwar is running on a PTI ticket and Babar Sohail Butt on PPP's while the JI has fielded Amer Jalil.
Tajammul is the outgoing MPA but his popularity is on the decline as he was accessible to the public, according to locals. The PTI's candidate is strong.
In PP-158, the PML-N candidate is Malik Ghulam Habib, a former PPP MPA from the area, while PTI's ticket holder Tahir Majid Mayo was elected as a UC nazim in the past and has the support of the Myo baradari which is in majority in the constituency. PPP's candidate, Naveed Ashiq Diyal, was a former PML-Q MPA who joined the PPP a week back. The JI candidate is Amer Hayat Bajwa. All competitors are strong and the competition will be very close.
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