More than 128 million voters will elect 266 members to the National Assembly and 593 members to provincial assemblies on February 8.

A majority of the voters who want to cast their ballots in the elections have already decided whom to vote for. But there are still thousands of voters in each constituency who have not yet made up their minds. Political parties will focus on these voters during the election campaign.

One can easily divide these voters into three categories. The first one consists of those voters who have strong political affiliations. These voters form the core base of a political party. The PTI and the PML-N have their core support base intact in Punjab. The PTI is still popular with people from the middle class and among young voters.

The PML-N has been able to regain much of the ground it lost while in the 16-month-long coalition government. The arrival of its supreme leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has significantly helped the party gain its lost popularity.

In many urban constituencies, the PTI and the PML-N are going neck to neck. In these constituencies, swing or independent voters are going to play a decisive role. The parties that will successfully attract a majority of independent voters are likely to win from these constituencies.

The PPP has gradually lost much of its core support base in Punjab since 2008. They are vocal voters of their parties and also try to influence swing voters.........

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