elections gave rise to mistrust and suspicion in the two main partners of the wobbly coalition - the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The PPP is skeptical about the role of the PML-N's Punjab government and some of its frontline leaders in different constituencies where by-polls were held. PPP leaders privately say the provincial government backed independents in some areas, pitched against their nominees, and got them defeated. “The most apt example is the beating of Mureed Hussain brother of Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood from Khanewal where Karamdad Wahla, openly supported by top PML-N leader Javed Hashmir, routed him,” one PPP leader said. The winner had a lead of over 12,000 votes over the loser. The PPP leader said a publicly known understanding between the two coalition partners was that no party would either field or support, openly or covertly, any candidates against the other's nominees. This was adhered to the extent the PPP and PML-N did not put up contestants against each other, but it was clearly violated when it came to backing independents by the PML-N in some constituencies. He said his party has no doubt about the colossal support of the Punjab government to the independents who defeated the PPP candidates. He said the victory of independents was beyond comprehension when the major party like the PML-N had not fielded its candidates in these areas. The PPP leader said the PML-Q was too incapacitated to be in a position to pose any threat to the PPP or PML-N nominees. He said it still stood thoroughly discredited as people continued to hate it for its policies. Some wins were too phenomenal raising doubts about the very honesty and integrity of the electoral process. For example, another PPP leader said, PML-N's Rana Afzal brother of Rana Tanvir, who resigned along with his party's federal ministers in the Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani cabinet, was bestowed with a massive success in Sheikhurpura as he bagged 119,000 votes while his rival Zulfikar Dhiloon secured just 2587 ballots. It appeared to be more than a one-sided affair and raised several eyebrows. The PPP expresses reservations over the defeat of its ticket-holder, Zakaullah Jatoi, in Muzaffargarh where he got over 19,000 votes and was routed by an independent candidate, Makhdoom Abdullah Shah Bokhari, who secured 23,829 votes. Even an independent contestant, Amjad Warraich, got a respectable number of votes, 19931, while fighting against prominent PPP leader Qasim Zia, in Faisalabad for a Punjab Assembly seat, who bagged over 32,000 votes. The PPP is also unhappy over the defeat of its candidate, Tariq Osman (24,862), at the hands of independent Mian Fida Hussain (32,706) in Bahawalnagar. It alleges that the administration registered cases against its workers. Even demoralized PML-Q's Raja Nasir bagged a good number of votes (22,773) against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar in NA 52 Rawalpindi. The contest for a Punjab Assembly seat from Mandi Bahauddin was really a close call. PPP's Maj (retd) Zulfikar Gondal got 20,859 votes against PML-Q's Ahmed Khan Bhutto, who bagged 19,081. It was the sole constituency where the PML-Q got a huge number of votes, given the turnout. __
