I would like to share with you all my take on the recent elections in NA122
Abdul Aleem Khan lost out to Sardar Ayaz Sadiq with a narrow margin of 2500 odd votes. What is being said now is that there was some mismanagement and not all of the votes in the constituency were harvested due to late arrival of women polling agents or change in polling lists etc etc.
To me the reason for the defeat is simple, the candidate was wrong not because he lacked the skills or was unaware of the electioneering process or that he lacked funds to run an effective campaign but rather he is notorious of being part of the land mafia of Lahore and has the history of getting acquitted from NAB after returning billions of rupees to EOBI.
I am not saying that there is tangible and undeniable proof of his corruption but simply that he has a bad reputation and it would have been in the best tradition of PTI not to have fielded a candidate with a bad reputation.
I would like to give weight to my argument by bring to your attention the results of by-elections in Peshawar NA-1 and Mianwali NA-71 both had been won by Imran Khan but later due to bad candidates both seats were lost.
Here in NA122 the margin was less just because it became a PML-N versus PTI match were the candidates individual merits or demerits became a secondary contributor to the heat of the competition.
Only the edge could have been achieved not by spending more money but by fielding a candidate with good reputation having the full support of local PTI members and able to draw out the voters who apparently did not come out to vote for either of the two contestants.
Lastly spending so much money did not win Abdul Aleem Khan the election since it was an urban seat where he has been an MPA before. Almost everyone knows both the candidates by face and the over exposure through banners, buntings and hoardings gave the impression that Abdul Aleem Khan has millions of ill gotten money since it is being so wastefully and thoughtlessly spent !!!
This I believe was counterproductive, it would have been far more effective had he gifted one new 70cc bike to every PTI razakar of his constituency and promised financial support to PTI students and women workers etc.
Just as a hindsight the results would have been more favorable had Shoaib Siddiqui contested the NA122 and PP147 would have been contested by our dear Abdul Aleem Khan incase there was no clean soul available in all of PTI.
Abdul Aleem Khan lost out to Sardar Ayaz Sadiq with a narrow margin of 2500 odd votes. What is being said now is that there was some mismanagement and not all of the votes in the constituency were harvested due to late arrival of women polling agents or change in polling lists etc etc.
To me the reason for the defeat is simple, the candidate was wrong not because he lacked the skills or was unaware of the electioneering process or that he lacked funds to run an effective campaign but rather he is notorious of being part of the land mafia of Lahore and has the history of getting acquitted from NAB after returning billions of rupees to EOBI.
I am not saying that there is tangible and undeniable proof of his corruption but simply that he has a bad reputation and it would have been in the best tradition of PTI not to have fielded a candidate with a bad reputation.
I would like to give weight to my argument by bring to your attention the results of by-elections in Peshawar NA-1 and Mianwali NA-71 both had been won by Imran Khan but later due to bad candidates both seats were lost.
Here in NA122 the margin was less just because it became a PML-N versus PTI match were the candidates individual merits or demerits became a secondary contributor to the heat of the competition.
Only the edge could have been achieved not by spending more money but by fielding a candidate with good reputation having the full support of local PTI members and able to draw out the voters who apparently did not come out to vote for either of the two contestants.
Lastly spending so much money did not win Abdul Aleem Khan the election since it was an urban seat where he has been an MPA before. Almost everyone knows both the candidates by face and the over exposure through banners, buntings and hoardings gave the impression that Abdul Aleem Khan has millions of ill gotten money since it is being so wastefully and thoughtlessly spent !!!
This I believe was counterproductive, it would have been far more effective had he gifted one new 70cc bike to every PTI razakar of his constituency and promised financial support to PTI students and women workers etc.
Just as a hindsight the results would have been more favorable had Shoaib Siddiqui contested the NA122 and PP147 would have been contested by our dear Abdul Aleem Khan incase there was no clean soul available in all of PTI.