The PML-N has invited applications for party tickets from aspiring candidates for the upcoming Senate elections. PML-N General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal on Friday asked the aspirants to submit applications, carrying a bank draft of Rs50,000 each, by February 15 to the Central Party Secretariat.
Of the total 29 PML-N senators, 17 are set to retire on March 11 after completing their six years term. The PML-N is expected to win five seats at best out of 52 seats that will be up for grabs at the upcoming Senate polls.
Interestingly, the remaining 12 PML-N senators, whose term will complete in 2024, are independent candidates in theory as the PML-N tickets issued to them by the former party president Nawaz Sharif were nullified after Nawaz, earlier disqualified by the Supreme Court under Article 62/63, was barred from holding even the party portfolio.
According to analysts, the party is expected to secure all the five seats from the Punjab Assembly, in which the PML-N has 164 members. The total number of seats in the legislature is 371.
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If the recent Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) announcement is to be believed then the PML-N will also have the support of the PPP, which has seven seats in the Punjab Assembly.
In Punjab, the elections are to be held on 7 general seats, two reserved seats for women and two served seats for technocrats. The PML-N is expected to field candidates for 3 general seats as well as 2 reserved seats – one each for women and technocrats’ seats.
The ones retiring on March 11 include senior most party leaders such as PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq who is at present the leader of opposition in the Senate. Mushahidullah Khan and former information minister Pervaiz Rashid will also retire.
Haq and Rashid – given their relations with Nawaz Sharif – are likely to be awarded the coveted party ticket again. Muhammad Zubair – Sindh former governor and spokesperson of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz – is likely to be the person to be awarded the third ticket.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already started distributing nomination papers to the candidates. The ECP plans to announce the schedule for the Senate election on February 11.
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