ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary board of the ruling PML-N met here on Tuesday to select the party’s candidates for by-elections scheduled for August 22. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is also the party chief, presided over the meeting.
The PML-N Chairman, Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, told Dawn that the meeting had a one-point agenda — selection of candidates for the by-polls. The board discussed various names for nomination, he said, adding that the final list of candidates would be announced in a couple of days.
“Since there is a huge interest in the party ticket for the by-elections, the leadership wants to field best candidates and, therefore, is taking some time to pick them,” he said.
Answering a question, he said that the PML-N was yet to discuss the presidential election. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced that polling for the next president would be held on August 6.
A party leader said that another meeting of the board would be held in two to three days after which final list of candidates would be announced. He said that on Tuesday discussions were held on short-listed candidates who had been interviewed over the past couple of weeks.
Of the 16 seats of the National Assembly up for grabs, the PML-N had won two in the May 11 polls. Of them, Nawaz Sharif has vacated the seat of NA-68 (Sargodha-V) and his brother Shahbaz Sharif has left NA-129 (Lahore-XII).
Besides the two constituencies, the party has also received an overwhelming number of applications for the ticket for NA-48 (Islamabad).
A member of the parliamentary board said that over 25 candidates had applied for the ticket for NA-48, including Anjum Aqeel who had lost to Javed Hashmi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI). Mr Hashmi has decided to retain the seat he had won in his home constituency of Multan. The PTI has decided to field Asad Umar, a well-known name in the corporate world, to retain the seat the party had won in Islamabad city.
A senior leader of the PML-N said that Mr Aqeel had low chance of receiving the ticket because the party had a wide range of options in the constituency. Besides, Mr Aqeel’s alleged involvement in land grabbing has dented his chances.
Other two constituencies where the ruling party has a decent chance of winning are NA-83 (Faisalabad) and NA-103 (Hafizabad). By-elections are due in the two constituencies because polling could not be held in NA-83 due to the death of a candidate and the ECP had declared the result of polling in NA-103 void.
The PML-N is facing tough competition also for tickets for 14 seats of the Punjab Assembly.
The meeting was attended also by Ishaq Dar, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pervaiz Rashid, Ahsan Iqbal, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Khwaja Asif, Raja Zafarul Haq, Rana Sanaullah, Anusha Rehman Khan, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar and Rana Tanveer Hussain. Asif Kirmani, political secretary to the prime minister was also present.
As per ECP notification, the by-elections will be held in 16 constituencies of the National Assembly and 26 of provincial assemblies throughout the country. The commission has received nomination papers from July 3 to 9 and their scrutiny will be conducted until 17 (today). It will hear appeals from the candidates from July 23 to 29.
Candidates may withdraw their nomination by July 30 and a final list of the candidates will be published on 31.