PPP likely to withdraw in favour of PTI candidate

Party leader says decision taken on Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi’s request

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Peoples Party has decided not to field its candidate in PP-38 Sialkot (IV) by-election in favour of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s contender on Punjab Assembly Speaker Pervaiz Elahi’s request, a well-placed source in the PPP disclosed.

According to a PPP leader, who requested not to be named, the PPP has decided not to contest the by-election. He said that their withdrawal from the by-poll will eventually consolidate PTI candidate’s position in the constituency.

However, he said the PPP was not withdrawing in favour of the PTI rather in the favour of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid. He said that the PTI has re-allotted the party ticket to Ahsan Saleem Bharyar, after nomination papers of his uncle Qaiser Bharyar, the initial choice of the party, were rejected. Ahsan Saleem, son of Saleem Bharyar, is the senior vice president of the PML-Q in Punjab.

He said that Elahi had requested PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari not to field a candidate for the by-poll. He said that this decision has been taken to honour his request. He said the PML-Q and the PPP are former allies, and both the parties enjoy good terms, adding that the allies of the past can be allies of the future as well.

When asked whether the PPP will make its support for PTI public, or just quietly abstain from contesting by elections, he said that this decision, in this regard, was yet to be taken.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PPP had only managed to bag a mere 597 votes in the 2018 election from this seat, meaning that their support would be rather symbolic in nature. The PTI candidate then Saeed Ahmed Bhalli bagged 40,531 votes and the winning PML-N candidate Chaudary Khush Akhtar Subhani managed to secure 57,617 votes.

PP-38 (Sialkot IV) seat fell vacant after the demise of PML-N MPA Kush Akhtar Subhani in May. By-elections are scheduled to be held on this seat on July 28.

Ahsan Saleem Baryar was contesting from the PTI ticket whereas Tariq Subhani, a relative of the late MPA, was contesting from the PML-N ticket.

The PTI candidate, despite the support of PML-Q and PPP on his side, does not seem to be in a winning position just yet as the former ticket holder Saeed Ahmed Bhalli was reportedly in the race, as an independent candidate. The PTI though has managed to convince disgruntled PTI leader Tahir Ahmed Hundli to pull out of the race, offering him Punjab Chief Minister Office coordinatorship in return. Tahir Ahmed Hundli, even as an independent candidate, managed to bag 12,000 votes – meaning that his sizable vote bank would play to the party's advantage.

This time around, PPP District President Azhar Chaudary was in the race. The source regarding the outcome of the previous election said that a lot of PPP electables were stolen from the party and bundled in PTI's van to ensure their victory.

He said that some leaders of Punjab had strongly opposed the decision of withdrawing party candidate from PP-38 by-election; however, he said, the party felt that in the absence of any provincial leadership and given that central party leadership was busy with Kashmir elections, it was better to withdraw.