PPP skips Punjab by-elections

The PPP will once again leave the field wide open for PML-N candidates in Punjab, effectively dusting off the old "runner-up formula", a senior PPP leader revealed on Wednesday.

For the past four years, the PPP has either bowed out of the electoral fray in Punjab, handing the ground on a silver platter to its on-again, off-again coalition partners in PML-N, or else suffered crushing defeats, with only a handful of exceptions.

Ahead of the upcoming by-elections, senior PPP leaders had initially expressed confidence that the party would not give PML-N a walkover and would instead use the opportunity to rebuild its base in the province.

However, a senior leader disclosed that the party's top leadership had decided against fielding candidates in Punjab. He explained that entering the fray would strain ties with PML-N, as campaigning would inevitably require taking swipes at the ruling alliance.

He added that the decision is rooted in an understanding originally conceived during the multi-party conference days under PTI's rule, which granted the "first right" to the runner-up party.

Under this formula, PPP was expected to secure at least one seat in South Punjab, he claimed.

Just a day earlier, PPP General Secretary Nayyar Hussain Bukhari had clarified that the decision on contesting elections would be made after consultations with PML-N. He said that the two parties were in alliance and that PPP would not take a solo flight.

Meanwhile, PML-N has already issued tickets for two National Assembly (NA) and one Provincial Assembly (PA) seat. The party has also invited applications for NA-143 Sahiwal, NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan and PP-203 Sahiwal, after the ECP announced the schedule for by-polls on these constituencies.

The seats had fallen vacant following the disqualification of PTI leaders Rai Hassan Nawaz, Zartaj Gul and Rai Muhammad Murtaza Iqbal after convictions in the May 9 rioting cases.