Disqualified MPAs swing into action to grab PML-N’s ticket

LAHORE:

A high-voltage by-polls on the 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly – scheduled to be held on July 17 – is expected to see a cut-throat contest in at least four constituencies as almost all disqualified MPAs gear up to grab their most sought-after pie – PML-N’s ticket.

For the PML-N, victory in the by-poll will take its tally in the 346-member House to 172 and will be interpreted as a mandate for Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz that has been thrown into the throes of a legal landmine after the decision of the ECP that disqualified lawmakers who voted for him during CM polls.

Sources said that the PML-N has promised its tickets to those who were de-seated by the ECP.

‘Old wine in new bottle’

Although the rival camps will be pitching new faces as their candidates, sources said the parties, particularly PML-N, are maneuvering to keep the political allegiances intact in order to safeguard the outcomes in the provincial assembly and PML-N.

Abdul Aleem Khan – one of the disqualified MPAs – is least likely to refrain from contesting the by-polls. Instead, his group’s member Shoaib Siddiqui, who lost the Punjab Assembly election, will vie for the vacant seat form from PP-158.

Aleem Khan had defeated PML-N's Rana Ahsan Sharafat in the 2018 elections

On the other hand, Sharafat is also upping his game to secure the PML-N’s ticket through senior party leader Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Similarly, in PP-167, PML-N has decided to give the space to PTI’s dissident Nazeer Ahmad Chohan -- elected from the PTI ticket after defeating PML-N's Mian Saleem -- according to an agreed formula.

Party insiders revealed that Mian Saleem is also labouring to get the sought-after ticket.

Likewise, PML-N has decided to field former PTI lawmaker Asad Khokhar in PP-168. Khokhar had defeated previously Rana Khalid Qadri of PML-N in the by-election.

The seat was vacated by Khawaja Saad Rafique after he became a member of the National Assembly.

In PP-170, the party will award its ticket to PTI's Chaudhry Amin who defeated PML-N's Mian Imran Javed in 2018.

The by-polls will be held on PP-7, PP-83, PP-90, PP-97, PP-125, PP-127, PP-140, PP-158, PP-167, PP-168, PP-170, PP-202, PP-217, PP-224, PP-228, PP-237, PP-272, PP-273, PP-282 Layyah and PP-288.

It is pertinent to note that the beleaguered Punjab chief minister, Hamza Shehbaz, and the Jahangir Khan Tareen group had on Friday decided to move the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision that de-seated 25 dissident lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who defected in the CM’s election.