Independents are becoming a big political force in Punjab. Should this be matter of alarm for political parties belonging to the opposition? Usually by this time, people start getting fed up with the incumbent government which does not seem to be the case for Pmln. Those people who got fed up did not vote for Pti and PPP either. Is this a sign of political maturity which imran khan has been stressing in his speeches? Is this a sign of people getting fed up with all political parties? In the past people used to vote for the lesser evil? Have they now decided to vote against the political parties taking an independent line and vote for those who they understand to be useful for their respective areas?
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Generally a good trend in terms of voting patterns, shows political maturity of locals where they aren't swayed big party banners.
But in terms of practical politics, it is a farce. Yes these Independents base their their entire campaign opposing and thrashing the mainstream parties, but as soon as they win, they go and sit in their laps. So not exactly "Independents", or are they?
Besides, most of the Independents are generally candidates who were denied tickets from their parties, so they stand as Independents only to join their original main party later on with more leverage. This trend was clearly seen in KPK and Punjab.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
I don't think many people who voted for Independents really expected them to so quickly join the winning party they had been bashing their entire campaign. Unless the candidate is really open about his political affiliations, and doesn't deny joining the original party after winning.
Otherwise, in future cycles you might see locals not voting for Independents without seeking any assurance of long term 'Independence', otherwise PMLN A player vs PNLN B player, is not exactly an Independent contest, if they both say their Quide is Sher, and party Muslim league. In that case, it is basically whichever PMLNer is popular locally, will win. Same happened in KPK.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
I've been thinking on same lines, people are getting fed up by political parties and at same time they are not in favor of military raaj...
So they opted for independents, i have said this before. There is big room for a new party who is not filled with big names aka electables...people want someone who can represent them and het their issues resolved...
PMLN, PTI and PPP have lots og ground to cover, they are lucky that there is no challenger on the horizon but who knows, still 2+ years to elections, and news is that the new army chief is more aggressive than Raheel Shareef, and the focus would be cleaning the mess once n for all.
So lots of happening, PMLN have bigger challenge than they had last time in shape of PTI...
One more thing i would like add, in order to improve the quality of political party and assemblies...that is, take out the development funds and works out the scope of MNA/MPA and or councilman and let the relevant govt Institute take care of it.and let the elected bodies such as mayor etc be a auditor kind of thing for these projects..
This take away lots of corruption-doing chances...and not every one would be spending heavily or shall be interested in becoming parliamentarians
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
If the news is already out the new Army chief is going to be aggressive, then whoever he is, he simply won't be selected. NS is not that stupid.
Gen Raheel has family legacy of three generations at stake to do anything which would put his name next to someone like Mushy, as opposed to Major Aziz Bhatti. But if the Fauj has already decided the strategy and agenda post Gen Raheel, then whoever comes, will simply follow what has already been decided.
NS would ideally like Gen Raheel to ask for extension, but I sincerely hope and pray he doesn't.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
It NS admin who has already hinted for rhat general in cordination with Gen Raheel Sharif, same as NS selected Current COAS and if iam not mistaken along with IK the whole PTI brass was shouting their heart out on the selection of Gen Raheel...
So cut the crap...ik is not only patriot in whole Pakistan
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
You have to see how "independent" these independents are. Some times, these are the "naraz" politician from some party who want to run, win and make their bargaining position better only to finally join some party (mostly In-Govt party)
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
You have to see how "independent" these independents are. Some times, these are the "naraz" politician from some party who want to run, win and make their bargaining position better only to finally join some party (mostly In-Govt party)
Heard that Firdous Ashiq Awan contested as an independent in Punjab. How come? She used to be an MNA and now contesting for LB polls?
Oh google solved the mystery. She made a group 'Awami Khidmat Group'. Lols.
In Lyari, there was Nabeel Gabol group, which got some seats. Then, we had Mirza group in Badin and Liaquat Jatoi group in Dadu. So, yes it is difficult to decide whether or not independents are really independent.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
It NS admin who has already hinted for rhat general in cordination with Gen Raheel Sharif, same as NS selected Current COAS and if iam not mistaken along with IK the whole PTI brass was shouting their heart out on the selection of Gen Raheel...
So cut the crap...ik is not only patriot in whole Pakistan
So Gen Raheel Sharif has already self selected and got his successor approved?
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Many of the independents were those that were not given party tickets for one reason or another. After winning, they'll go to the party that they wanted to join, because they're more valuable and majority wants to join PMLN.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Many of the independents were those that were not given party tickets for one reason or another. After winning, they'll go to the party that they wanted to join, because they're more valuable and majority wants to join PMLN.
Majority of independents in KPK joined PTI. All Independents end up joining the provisional ruling party.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
According to this PPP regained in Punjab
And as the bubble of PTI is burst
PPP is the only party to get the attention
Ajmal Jami @ajmaljami](https://twitter.com/ajmaljami) 8h8 hours ago
#LBPolls](https://twitter.com/hashtag/LBPolls?src=hash) 3rd Phase results so far: punjab](https://twitter.com/hashtag/Punjab?src=hash): Results received = 2440 out of 2497#PMLN](https://twitter.com/hashtag/PMLN?src=hash) = 1029 , Ind = 1002 , pti](https://twitter.com/hashtag/PTI?src=hash) 262 , ppp](https://twitter.com/hashtag/PPP?src=hash) = 1101/2
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Pti bubble is burst with 100 odd PPP tickets, out of these 84 are in rahim yar khan alone. I hope PPP will form the next government in Punjab based upon their performance in Ryk, Pmln has the majority even in this district.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
I was talking about Punjab.
Majority of independents in KPK joined PTI. All Independents end up joining the provisional ruling party.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Even if the independents are disgruntled political workers, the numbers which have got elected are unprecedented. What does it say if people do not elect an official Pmln man but the guy who contests the elections as an independent? Like I said earlier that people are rising over party lines to elect candidates. If this phenomena grows in the next elections we could have majority independents.
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
So Gen Raheel Sharif has already self selected and got his successor approved?
Lol
If new general is good then Raheel Shareef selected him but if it is other way around, then it is NS's selection...
I know this mentality
Re: Punjab - rise of the independents.
Even if the independents are disgruntled political workers, the numbers which have got elected are unprecedented. What does it say if people do not elect an official Pmln man but the guy who contests the elections as an independent? Like I said earlier that people are rising over party lines to elect candidates. If this phenomena grows in the next elections we could have majority independents.
If NA and PA elections were cheaper to contest, we would see similar trends. Right now, 'independents' cannot really afford to run for those seats.