Chitral : As polling day is drawing closer, the seriously competing candidates are getting desperate to hook voters with every method they can think of. It is a sorry fact that merit and suitability take a back seat in all elections in Pakistan, and the exercise is reduced to a mere battle of sentiments and emotions among supporters and voters in favour of their choice candidates.

In? Chitral the two main factors which are exploited specially during the time of elections are the tribal factor and the religious factor. In the first case people belonging to a certain tribe or clan would blindly support their candidate without caring for his suitability. Similarly,religious minded people would vote for a cleric even without knowing the candidate or even bothering to know him. They would say “we are voting in the name of Allah and not for the candidate”.

Exploitation of the sentiments of voters is not restricted to any group or party. Every party and candidate tries to play with the mental fault lines of voters who are mostly naive and easily impressionable. In order to achieve their goals,negative points against opposing candidates are stressed upon more compared to elaborating own plans and manifestos. The irony is that voters prefer candidates who are harsh and who launch vitriolic attacks against their rivals, instead of candidates who are decent and behave in a couth manner.

Despite regular elections being held at short intervals the conceptual mindset of voting for a party or candidate has not refined itself. It has rather deteriorated with time. It is time we realise that politics is not the answer. The answer lies in ‘anti politics’, i.e in the benevolent system of –Meritocracy.? .. CN report, 14 Jul 2018