Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo has been active in politics since 1983, when he was elected as the chairman of district council. He got elected to the Punjab Assembly and took charge of the office of the speaker after 1985 general elections. In 1993, he was elected as the chief minister of the province. In 2002, his daughter Rubeena Shaheen Wattoo got elected as an MNA. Manzoor Wattoo won two NA seats from Depalpur tehsil in 2008 elections, after defeating Moeen Khan Wattoo and Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan. Manzoor Wattoo vacated his home seat in Wasavey Wala, Haweli Lakha, from where he fielded his son Mian Khurram Jahangir Wattoo in the by-polls. He got elected as an MNA. In 2013 general elections, Manzoor Wattoo and his son Khurram Wattoo were defeated by Moeen Khan Wattoo on NA and PP seats, respectively. When Moeen Wattoo vacated the PA seat, Khurram Jahangir Wattoo contested the by-poll and got elected as an MPA.
The Gillani family of Hujra Shah Muqeem has been active in politics for long. In 1985 elections, Syed Afzaal Ali Gillani, Ali Raza’s father, was elected as MPA and he was given charge of the provincial health ministry. Since then, the Gillanis has won all elections in the constituency till 2013, this year’s election being the first they have lost.
Published in Daily Times, August 4th 2018.
