With the upcoming general elections, excitement is growing, yet the traditional colours of the election campaign are not yet evident. However, the candidates' posters have indeed started appearing on vehicles.

Hafizabad district, with a population of 13 lakh 20 thousand people, has a total of eight lakh 10 thousand 723 registered voters. Among them, four lakh, 39 thousand and 770 are male, and three lakh, 70 thousand and 953 are female voters.

This district has one National Assembly (NA) seat and three Provincial Assembly (PA) seats. In the previous elections, the national constituency number was NA-87, now renumbered as NA-67.

In the 2018 elections, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Shaukat Ali Bhatti defeated both Saira Afzal Tarar of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and his uncle Liaqat Abbas Bhatti from here. Liaqat Bhatti was the Tehreek Labaik Pakistan (TLP) candidate and came third with more than 44 thousand votes.

The politics of Hafizabad has revolved around the families of Afzal Hussain Tarar and Mehdi Hasan Bhatti for decades. Saira Afzal Tarar is the daughter-in-law of former president Rafiq Tarar and the daughter of Afzal Tarar.

Mian Afzal, the head of the Tarar family, served twice as a member of the National Assembly. In 2002, he did not contest the election due to the graduation requirement. In 2008, he fielded his daughter, Saira Tarar, who has been contesting elections from this seat since then.

Hafizabad new constituency delimitations 2023

2018 National Constituency NA-87 Hafizabad 1 is now NA-67 Hafizabad 1
It is the only national assembly constituency of Hafizabad district, which includes the entire population of this district.

2018 Provincial Constituency PP-69 Hafizabad 1 is now PP-37 Hafizabad 1
This constituency consists of the rural population of Tehsil Hafizabad and Tehsil Pindi Bhatian, which includes the settlements of Vanke Tarar, Kulu Tarad and Jalalpur Bhattian. In the new constituency delimitation, a lot of changes have been made in this constituency, such as the nearby QH of Hafizabad city, Hafizabad one and two, town committee Vanke Tarar villages have also been included, leaving two patwar circles of Kalki town and removed the rest.

2018 Provincial Constituency PP-70 Hafizabad 2 is now PP-38 Hafizabad 2
It is an urban constituency of the Hafizabad District which includes the entire population of the Hafizabad Municipal Committee. In addition, all patwar circles of Chak Chhata town and some patwar circles of Kalki town are included. In the new constituency delimitation, Hafizabad 1 and Hafizabad 2 QH have been removed from this constituency. While leaving some Patwar circles, the entire Kalki QH has also been included in this constituency.

2018 Provincial Constituency PP-71 Hafizabad 3 is now PP-39 Hafizabad 3
It is a constituency of Pindi Bhatian Tehsil, which includes the population of Pindi Bhattian Municipal Committee and the town of Sukheki. In the new constituencies, three Patwar circles of Kalki have been added to this constituency, while three Patwar circles have been removed.

Shaukat Ali Bhatti's father, Mehdi Hasan Bhatti, served as a member of the Punjab Assembly three times from 1985 to 1993 and later twice as a member of the National Assembly. Mehdi Hasan's brother and Shaukat's uncle, Liaqat Abbas Bhatti, has also been elected three times as MNA.

"Saira Afzal Tarar and Shaukat Ali Bhatti have competed thrice since 2008. Saira Afzal won two elections, and Shaukat Ali won one. He served as a Member of the Provincial Assembly and a Minister before becoming an MNA.
Thirty-five candidates submitted their nomination papers for the general elections on February 8, 2024, from NA-67 Hafizabad.

Once again, the traditional rivals, Saira Afzal Tarar from PML-N and Shaukat Ali Bhatti from PTI are expected to be the main candidates. However, Mehdi Hasan Bhatti has submitted the nomination papers for his daughter, Aniqua Bhatti, from this constituency.

Both candidates also have personal vote banks with the party. Saira Afzal Tarar has always stood with the PML-N, while the Bhatti family won with the PML-Q and in an independent capacity before joining PTI. Thus, a thorny competition is expected for this national seat.

Wasimul Hasan Shah is also among the candidates from this constituency. In the last election, he contested from the provincial constituency on the TLP ticket and secured more than 24,000 votes. He is now being mentioned as a potential Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate.

Shaukat Bhatti's uncle and former TLP candidate from this constituency, Liaqat Bhatti, has joined the PML-N and has also submitted his nomination papers. Similarly, Mamoon Tarar, a former PTI MPA from Hafizabad, is speculated to be the PPP candidate for this national seat.

There are three provincial assembly seats in Hafizabad district numbered PP-37, PP-38, and PP-39. The list of aspirants for PML-N tickets in these three constituencies is extensive, leading to differences among local party officials.

Constituency PP-37 comprises Tehsil Pindi Bhatian and most villages of Hafizabad Tehsil. Twenty-seven candidates, including former MPA Mamoon Tarar, are contesting for this seat.

In this constituency, Mian Shahid Bhatti is the anticipated candidate of PML-N, but the District President of PML-N, Mohammad Bakhsh Tarar, has also submitted the nomination papers. Mehdi Hasan Bhatti's second son, Imran Abbas Bhatti, and Amanullah Sindhu are contenders for the PTI ticket here, while former MPA Chaudhry Asadullah is also in the race.

In the previous election, Mamoon Tarar, on a PTI ticket, defeated PML-N's Shahid Hussain Bhatti in this constituency. However, he left the party after the arrest of Imran Khan, and now he is eyeing the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) for both the provincial and national seats here.

PP-38 Hafizabad 2 covers the Hafizabad Municipal Committee and neighbouring villages. A total of 26 candidates have submitted their nomination papers from this constituency.

Sheikh Gulzar is a strong candidate for the PML-N ticket. He is a close relative of former PML-N MPA Muzaffar Ali Sheikh, who was elected from this constituency and considered the chosen candidate of the family.

Among those who have submitted their nomination forms from the same constituency are two nephews of Mehdi Hasan Bhatti, Sikandar Nawaz and Zameerul Hasan Bhatti, and a niece, Rifat Batool. Likely, either Sikandar Nawaz or former PTI ticket holder Malik Fayyaz Awan could be the candidate for PTI.

Gul Nawaz Awan, Ra  Safdar Ali, Wasim-ul-Hasan Shah, Zahid Sohail, and Usman Khizr Mangat have also submitted their nomination papers from this constituency.

PP-39 Hafizabad 3 comprises Municipal Committee Pindi Bhattian, Municipal Committee Sukheki, and Tehsil Pindi Bhattian villages. On the PTI ticket, Mian Ansar Ahsan Bhatti was elected from this constituency.

Ansar Bhatti left PTI after May 9. Now, his cousin Aun Intisar Bhatti wants to contest the election from PML-N. Former National Assembly member Liaquat is also a candidate for PML-N ticket.

Qamar Javed Gujjar, Advocate, can be a PTI candidate from this constituency. He is also considered to be quite close to Mehdi Hasan Bhatti. Twenty-four candidates have come forward, including Babar Shafiq, former MPA Syed Shoaib Shah Nawaz, Zameerul Haque, and Sadia Liaquat Abbas.

The PML-N is divided on the ticket in this constituency. Under the leadership of the District President, one faction has been supporting Liaqat Abbas Bhatti, while the other group, whose patron is Mian Shahid, is backing Mian Shahid Bhatti's Aziz Aun Intisar Bhatti.

If there's a competition between the Tarar and Bhatti families in the national constituency, the candidate supported by these families will likely emerge as a strong contender in the three provincial seats of Hafizabad.

Why are people of Hafizabad angry with Election Commission of Pakistan?

Hafizabad, although one of Punjab's smallest districts, previously had two National Assembly constituencies in the 2008 and 2013 elections. However, it has since been allocated only one national seat, a decision that residents deem unfair.

In the newly delineated constituencies, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) incorporated Hafizabad city and certain villages into the NA-81 constituency of Gujranwala district. The rest of the district's population has been designated as NA-67. Local political activists derisively refer to Hafizabad as the 'Sar Katta District,' implying that the district's headquarters is now part of another city's constituency.

In the preliminary constituency delineation by the ECP, the Municipal Committee and Hafizabad Legislature were combined with Tehsil Nowshera Warkan, and the constituency was labelled as NA-81 'Gujranwala cum Hafizabad.' This constituency comprises approximately three and a half lakh residents of Hafizabad district.

PML-N candidate Saira Afzal Tarar also raised objections to this move.

Mohammad Munir, a political activist from Hafizabad, says there is a population difference of only 62 thousand between Jhelum district and Hafizabad. However, Jhelum has two National Assembly constituencies, whereas Hafizabad has been allocated only one. He deems this situation as entirely unjust.

After the initial delineation of constituencies, various individuals, including Ahsan Bhawan, a renowned lawyer from Hafizabad, lodged petitions. They collectively asserted that the district should be allocated two complete National Assembly constituencies. However, the final decision resulted in combining one and a half constituencies for the district once again.