Lahore (Rana Ali Zohaib) : Daska is an industrial area and is known for its sporting goods, leather garments, surgical instruments, feathers, auto parts, agricultural implements and washing machines, while high quality rice is also a hallmark of the region.
But in recent times, the reason for this is the popularity of presiding officers who disappeared in the fog, including the results of the by-election in NA-75 Sialkot 4 in February. As a result of this incident, the constituency became the center of political attention throughout Pakistan. The Election Commission decided to hold the election which was challenged in court. But in the end, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Election Commission and now there is going to be a re-poll on April 10.
This is a good opportunity to take a brief look at the political history of this constituency.
This constituency consists of most of Daska Tehsil of Sialkot District and 6 Patwar Circles of Pasrur Tehsil.
Like the rest of the seats in Sialkot in 1970 and 1977, the PPP won from this constituency. The PPP’s vote bank remained intact in this constituency even in 1988 and its candidate Khurshid Alam won with 41% of the vote. But since then, the party’s vote bank has been steadily declining, and in 2018 the party managed to get only 1.6% of the vote from the constituency.
From 1988 to 1997 this constituency was called NA 87 while from 2002 to 2013 it was called NA 113. The seat has been ruled by the Muslim League since 1990.
Nazir Ahmad Khan of IJI won in 1990 and Syed Iftikhar Al Hasan of PML-N won in 1993 and 1997. One of the reasons for N’s lead in the constituency was that Syed Iftikhar Al-Hassan did not contest due to his degree. But in 2008, 2013 and 2018, the seat remained with the PML-N. In 2008, Syed Murtaza Amin, the husband of current candidate Noshin Iftikhar, won, while in 2013 and 2018, Syed Iftikhar Al Hassan won.
Syed Iftikhar al-Hassan belonged to a religious family. His father Syed Faizul Hassan Shah was the President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan and was also a part of the Movement for the End of Prophethood.
In the elections held since 1988, the turnout of PML-N has been between 40 and 58 percent. While the PTI participated in the last two elections and won 26 and 24 percent of the vote, respectively.
The PTI had high hopes of winning this seat in the 2018 elections, but Usman Abid, the son of a prominent social figure in the area, applied for a ticket, which was rejected and given to Ali Asjad Malhi. ۔
Ali Asjad Malhi left the PML-Q in 2014 and joined the PTI. Usman Abid contested the election as an independent and got more than 57000 votes. While Asjad Malhi got 61727 votes. The winner, Syed Iftikhar Al Hassan, polled 101,769 votes. Thus, if the PTI’s power had not been divided into two groups, the possibility of Syed Iftikhar al-Hassan’s defeat could not be ruled out.
The new factor joining the constituency in the 2018 elections was Tehreek-e-Libek Pakistan, which polled 14,801 votes. Earlier, in the 2013 elections, the two religious parties in the constituency, Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-F Noorani Group, managed to get only 1,019 votes.
In NA-75 Sialkot, which has a population of over 823,000, the turnout has been more than 55% in the last three elections.
Noshin Iftikhar of PML-N, Ali Asjad Malhi of PTI and Khalil Sindhu of PTI are prominent candidates in the April 10 elections.
