LAHORE, May 10,2013 (SUMEERA RIAZ / UPI Next) — Lahore, the capital of Punjab province and Pakistan’s second-largest city, is expected to be a key battleground between the conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the centrist Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf in Saturday’s planned elections.
Thirteen of the National Assembly’s 272 general seats come from Lahore, and the city exerts great political influence in the rest of Punjab province, a province which accounts for 148 of those seats.
Lahore has been home to several well-known Pakistani political figures who later became prime minister or held other senior positions, including Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his daughter Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Nawaz Sharif, who is running this year, are all former prime ministers who won elections Lahore.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became the first prominent political figure from Lahore after winning a seat in the 1970 elections. He became prime minister in 1973 was deposed in a coup. His daughter, Benazir Bhutto, won her father’s old seat in 1988.
Read more Lahore Seen as Critical in Pakistan’s Election – UPI.com.
