LAHORE: Pakistan People`s Party Punjab President Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo says his party will bounce back in the local body polls to prove that the May 11 election results were maneuvered.

In an interview with Dawn on Monday, Mr Wattoo said despite having evidence that the general elections were rigged under an understanding between some local and international players, the PPP had preferred not to take to streets as it did not want to destabilise the democratic system. `If we launch a protest drive there are chances that the democratic set up may be wrapped up,` he justified his party`s decision (not to protest against rigging). `Even Imran Khan was winning from Lahore,` he revealed, adding for the first time in the elec-tion history of the country the role of the judicial returning officers was highly controversial (in the last general elections.) Mr Wattoo rejects the general impression that the PPP has conceded a considerable ground to Imran Khan`s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, especially in Punjab. `The PTI and PML-N are right-wing parties while the PPP has the support of the left wing.The right wing votes will be divided between these two parties in the future, therefore, the PPP is feeling no threat from the PTI at all`.

He claims that the PPP made a good recovery in the by-elections after `supervising` the returning officers throughout the counting process. `Similarly, we will perform well in the local body polls after making seat-adjustment at local level with all parties except the PML-N,` he said.

A former chief minister of Punjab and considered a rival of the Sharifs, Wattoo has serious objections to the delimitation process in the province. Commissioners and district coordination officers, he says, have carried out the processon the recommendations of the PML-N MPAs and MNAs. `We have also written to the Election Commission of Pakistan about a re-ported distribution of over Rs2 million to each PML-N nominated candidate (for chairman) by the Punjab government to carry out develop-ment projects in his respective union council,` he said.

In spite of this maneuvering, Wattoo says his party is optimistic of doing well in various districts of the province like Sahiwal, Okara, Papattan, Kasur, Faisalabad, Toba Tek Singh, Gujranwala, Narowal, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Attock and Sargodha in the polls. He said the PPP parliamentary boards at district level had recommended the names of the candidates and the party`s provincial chapter would announce them in a few days.

Another `vital` element which he thinks was missing in the last election was the PPP`s going into the polls without leadership. `Asif Ali Zardari could not lead the 2013 election campaign because he was president of the country and Bilawal was out of political arena. Today Bilawal is leading the party and in upcoming local body polls the PPP will fight under leadership.

To a question about Bilawal`s tour of Punjab, he said: `I have requested him to come to Lahore and address the Punjab workers convention prior to the polls. The workersare keen to see him among them.

Since the number of angry workers is swelling, Wattoo is still confident that he will win them back.

`We admit that the PPP government in the centre should have patronised the workers during its tenure (2008-13) but their love for Bhuttos will not let them remain annoyed any more.` When asked that some old party workers had not yet accepted him as the party`s provincial chapter head, Wattoo said: `The PPP workers have accepted me because they know I am the one who can fight against the Sharifs well.

About the reorganisation of the party, Wattoo said: `I have filled all vacant posts at district level with consensus. I have made the executive council and the Punjab Council fully functional and gathered all former provincial presidents of the party on one platform to have their valuable suggestions for the betterment of the PPP.

Wattoo, who has voluntarily published details of his and family members` assets in his autobiography `jurm-i-syasat`, wants all politicians, including the Sharifs, to follow the suit.