It’s approaching a fever pitch, the by-election season in Punjab is. Initially, the League were thought to be the favourites, against their bête noire PTI. And they probably still are. But it can’t be denied that the PML(N) is at least a little nervous. Three critical Leaguers at executive positions, most notably former NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, have quit their respective positions so that they can campaign in earnest without having the courts or the Election Commission crying foul.
On its end, the PTI has decided to give the League a run for its money. You may win, but it won’t be easy. The PTI, with all its talking points against politics-as-usual, has given almost all of the twenty tickets to ‘electables’ who are veterans of several parties. This is not a proof that the PTI, like other parties, doesn’t stick to its manifesto when it comes to the rough and tumble of politics; because that hypothesis has long since stopped requiring proof.
The Election Commission’s observations about the Punjab government’s decision to give some relief in electricity bills, however, needs some scrutiny and debate. The questionable practice of patron-pillage politics in our neck of the woods is known to all. It should be discouraged and, in its extreme cases, the commission and the courts rightly follow a code. However, it’s a tricky area, deciding what executive decisions are blatant vote-seeking endeavours and which are just a government going about its business. Statistically outlying discretionary spending in constituencies about to go to the polls is one thing, but a government taking a decision about electricity at a time when the management of electricity is a burning public issue, could be argued to be quite different.
The polls are, predictably, already being interpreted as a barometer for the general polls, especially in case the latter take place earlier than scheduled. It is hoped they go by without incident.
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