Confusion prevails over resubmission of ticket dues in Punjab

Former PML-N MPAs in dark about status of their application and dues submitted earlier

LAHORE:

The Punjab MPA aspirants remain in the dark about the status of their application and associated dues submitted earlier this year, several former PML-N lawmakers disclosed on Friday.

The former MPAs revealed to The Express Tribune that they believed this deliberate confusion seemed to be aiming at pressing them to pay the dues again.

Earlier, PML-N opened the ticket award process for which it invited applications for national as well as provincial assembly seats. November 10 marks the deadline for ticket application submissions, as stated by the party.

According to the party guidelines, an aspirant is expected to submit a draft of Rs100,000 for a Punjab seat application and Rs200,000 for a National Assembly ticket application. As such, those interested in more than one ticket will have to pay separately for each seat.

This was confirmed by several party's former parliamentarians.

Interestingly, this was not the first time aspiring candidates in Punjab would be going through this process, as earlier this year in March, the party had invited applications for provincial tickets along with a Rs100,000 draft in March, when elections were announced by ECP in the province on April 30.

Read CEC under fire for ‘polls delay’

PML-N, which was in power in the centre then, had announced via state media outlet that it would be creating a parliamentary board which would start issuing tickets by March 15.

However, at the very last minute, the party either decided against issuing tickets or got wind of ECP’s plan of whimsically delaying elections.

Of former MPAs, who had submitted tickets, some had hoped that the party would consider their applications and bank draft for the award of tickets now, however had then revealed that the party had not conveyed anything to them.

The party’s information secretary, Marriyum Aurangzeb, when asked on November 1 about these applications, had said that as per her understanding, those who had submitted tickets along with the dues, would not require to submit them again.

However, former government Sindh and spokesperson to Nawaz Sharif, Muhammad Zubair said that all those who had submitted applications before will have to submit the applications again.

He said that there was no guarantee that all who had submitted applications would be willing to contest elections now as well, some might change their mind.

He said under the new delimitation, some might want to change the constituency for elections, which is why they have sought fresh applications. When asked about dues, he said that the party would consider that however did not clarify what that meant.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, four former MPAs shared that the party has yet to provide any clarification about the dues they had previously submitted. They confirmed having this issue discussed among themselves and made plans to bring it to the attention of the party leadership.

They all agreed that this confusion meant that they would have to submit another bank draft.

When asked to confirm if they had submitted a draft before, former MPAs Khawaja Waseem and Akhtar Hussain confirmed that they had each paid Rs100,000 for their applications earlier in the year. However, both couldn’t recall the exact date.

Former MPA Waseem said that since they do not exactly know the status of dues submitted earlier, they will submit dues again. He however said that this was not an issue for any aspiring candidate though.

When asked to confirm, how many drafts will a person submit, who aspires to receive more than one ticket, he said that for every ticket application, there will be one draft.