NA-75 Daska – PML-N won 6 out 7 elections in this constituency since 1990

 PPP won this constituency three times from 1970 to 1988

Very few people knew about NA-75 Daska constituency. But the bypoll on February 19 made this constituency well known nationally. What happened in the bypolls and legal battle that follows has made NA-75 Daska a special constituency.

That is why the attention of the media and people activists is focused on this constituency today. The voters are going to decide the fate of both the main candidates. Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar of PML-N and Ali Asjad Malhi of PTI have lock horns in a nail bitter contest. In few hours, the verdict of voters will be public.  

The history of this constituency shows that PML-N has an advantage in this constituency. PML-N candidate Syeda Nosheen Iftikhar’s father Syed Iftikhar ul Hassan (Zahray Shah) won this constituency 4 times in 1993, 1997, 2013 and 2018. Her husband Syed Murtaza Amin won this constituency in 2008. This shows that how strong PML-N has been in NA-75 constituency in Sialkot district.  PML-N won 6 out of 7 elections from this constituency since 1990. PML-Q was the only party that defeated PML-N in this constituency since 1990.

In 2002 Ali Asjad Malhi on PML-Q defeated both the PML-N and PPP candidates with a close margin. Now Ali Asjad Malhi is trying his luck on PTI ticket in the bypolls. He was defeated by PML-N candidate Syed Iftikhar ul Hassan with the margin of 40,000 votes in 2018 general elections. 

The history shows us that Ali Asjad Malhi performed better as a candidate of ruling party or Kings party. His only victory was as a candidate of PML-Q in 2002 which was supported by then military ruler General Musharaf. This time he has a chance winning the constituency because he is the candidate of ruling PTI. 

he also enjoying the support of an independent candidate who bagged nearly 57,000 votes in 2018. Ali Asjad showed better performance in the bypolls held on February 19 but results were declared null and void by ECP. 

It was a PPP strong hold since 1970. In the 1970 and 1977 elections, the PPP, like all other places from Sialkot, won this seat. The party’s candidate, Khurshid Alam, was able to maintain PPP’s winning streak in the 1988 elections as well but the fortunes of the party went downhill following that election as their vote bank started to decline.

After winning three elections from this constituency PPP lost the charm for the voters. PPP vote bank gradually shrinked. PPP candidates use to get more than 40,000 votes in this constituency till 2008. But after the 2008-2013 PPP government, the share of PPP votes in this constituency like many others in Central Punjab fell significantly.

PPP was a dominating political force in this constituency for decades. But in last decade it has lost much of the support.

In 1990, the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) candidate Nazeer Ahmed Khan ended the PPP's reign on the seat. In 1993 and 1997, the PML-N’s Syed Iftikhar-ul-Hasan won the seat.

 When the elections were again held in 2002, the PML-Q candidate, now a member of the PTI, Ali Asjad Malhi, won the seat. His win was largely due to the disqualification of Hasan over a fake degree.

In the 2008, 2013 and 2018 elections, the PML-N was able to win back the seat from Malhi. In 2008, the current PML-N candidate Nosheen Iftikhar’s husband Syed Murtaza Amin won back the seat for his party. In the last two general elections, Hasan stood on a PML-N ticket and won the seat again.

In last two elections in 2013 and 2018, PML-N bagged vote share around 40% to 58%, while the ruling PTI had obtained 26% and 24% of the votes in the last two elections.

In the 2018 general elections, the major factor that harmed the PTI and PML-N was the TLP, which obtained 14,801 votes.

The NA-75 constituency has more than 453,104 voters and the turnout in the last three elections has remained over 55%.

                                                    Khalid Bhatti