A close contest is expected between Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Shaikh Rashid Ahmad and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Barrister Daniyal Chaudhry on NA-62 constituency of Rawalpindi city on July 25. Besides these two heavyweights in the constituency, three other major political parties including Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have fielded their candidates.
According to Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), total population of the constituency is 818,187 while total number of registered voters is 452,930. The ECP will set up a total of 353 polling stations in the constituency - 184 for male voters and 169 for female voters.
NA-62 is the urban constituency of the city. It includes areas like Ratta Amral, Dhoke Hassu, Pir Wadhai, Khayban Sir Syed, New Katarian, Bagh Sardaran, Gunj Mandi, Shah Chan Chiragh, Raja Bazaar, Fatima Jinnah University, parts of Saddar and some parts of Chaklala Cantt.
Shaikh Rashid won the constituency in 2013 elections by securing 88,532 votes. Malik Shakeel Awan of the PML-N was the runner up with 75,275 votes. Like in 2013 elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is supporting Shaikh Rashid Ahmad in the constituency which is why his prospects of winning the elections are good.
In an anecdotal survey conducted by Business Recorder in the constituency on Tuesday, majority of the locals said that they would vote for Shaikh Rashid as he has been raising their issues in Parliament and on television channels.
People of the constituency said that they like humbleness of Shaikh Rashid and he always remains available to his voters at his famous residence - Lal Haveli. He has also been holding corner meetings, moving around the constituency on a motorbike, attending funerals and marriages in the area.
However, it would not be smooth sailing for Shaikh Rashid despite PTI support as the PML-N has its own vote bank in the constituency which is evident in the display of a very large number of posters of the PML-N candidate - on rickshaws, taxis and electricity pylons.
Barrister Daniyal is a son of Rawalpindi's influential politician Chaudhry Tanveer who is also a sitting Senator of the PML-N; and he has been holding corner meetings and doing a door to door campaign to seek votes.
Daniyal is contesting for a National Assembly seat for the first time while Shaikh Rashid has been a member of the Parliament since 1985. Rashid lost only 2008 election to the PML-N candidate Javed Hashmi and later in a by-election in the same constituency to another PML-N candidate Malik Shakeel Awan.
A candidate of TLP, Chaudhry Qadeer Ahmed, is also active in the constituency and is banking on the religious votes to win the constituency. The religious voters in this constituency intend to vote either for a TLP candidate or the MMA candidate Tariq Munir.
A large number of voters told Business Recorder that they would vote for the TLP candidate on the issue of Khatam-e-Nabuwat (finality of Prophethood). The residents of the constituency complained of poor education and health facilities, besides facing shortage of drinking water. They said that one of their major problems is lack of a graveyard and they face difficulties in being forced to bury their near and dear ones in far off graveyards.
They said that Shaikh Rashid started the construction of a 400-bed mother-child hospital in the constituency in 2005, but it is yet to be completed due to political differences of Rashid and the PML-N local leadership. They also complained that the previous PML-N government did not address basic issues of the constituency.
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