A tough contest is expected between former Prime Minister and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) candidate Raja Pervez Ashraf and former MNA Raja Javaid Ikhlas of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in NA-58 Rawalpindi-II, Gujar Khan.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has fielded Chaudhary Mohammad Azeem, a former town Nazim in the constituency however his candidature is not regarded as strong as that of the two heavyweights in the constituency, an anecdotal survey of NA-58 conducted by Business Recorder revealed.
PML-N Raja Javed Ikhlas, former Rawalpindi Nazim won from the constituency with a huge margin by securing 121296 votes in 2013 general elections defeating PPP's Raja Pervez Ashraf who bagged 67241. Farhat Faheem Bhatti of PTI had secured 39997 votes.
But this time around, the survey revealed that people are not happy with the former PML-N MNA because he was neither accessible to the people of his constituency nor undertake any major development work during the past five years.
The people interviewed by this correspondent supported Raja Parvez Ashraf for always being available and resolving their problems.
"I will definitely vote for Raja Pervez Ashraf who has done a lot of work for the constituency. There was no load shedding in Gujar Khan when he [Ashraf] was the prime minister in the days when the entire country was facing the worst power outages", said Mohammad Kaleem Arrian, a former PML-N voter.
However the majority of constituents interviewed by this correspondent stated they would support PML-N candidate Chaudhry Riaz for provincial assembly seat PP-8, while on the National Assembly seat, they are favouring the PPP's Raja Pervez Ashraf. "PML-N would lose the national assembly seat because of its flawed strategy and failure to deal with infighting. PML-N supporters believe Chaudhry Riaz was the right candidate for this National Assembly seat, but the leadership has again fielded Javaid Ikhlhas," pointed out Raja Khalid, a local commentator in Gujar Khan who runs his online page on social media.
With a total of 629,386 registered votes [327,734 male and 301,652], NA-58 covers Gujar Khan, Guliana, Kuntrilla, Mandra, Jhangal, Daultala, Devy, Sukho, Sayid Kasran, Qazian, Jatli and Kangar; major clans that inhabit the constituency include Rajputs, Janjuas, Bhattis, Ghakars, Arrian, Gujjars, Awans and Jutts.
"Baradrism is another major factor in the locality as people are less educated in the rural areas which constitutes the majority of the area of NA-58", Khalid said, adding that Arrian and Rajput, being the major clans in the rural areas, are supporting Raja Pervez Ashraf as he provided gas and electricity connections in their villages during his premiership.
The local leadership of PML-N campaigning for Javaid Ikhlas is confident to retain the seat on the basis of the party's previous government's performance. "We are hopeful to retain the seat despite various constraints and the fact that many of PML-N voters are not happy with Javed Ikhlas's performance during the past five year as MNA from the constituency", said Hanif Rajput, a PML-N voter.
PTI candidate Chaudhry Mohammad Azeem, an industrialist by profession who served as the town Nazim is considered relatively less popular in the constituency.
The PTI supporters interviewed by this correspondent complained that the central leadership was not paying any heed to the constituency, thus leaving the field open for PPP and PML-N.
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