The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Saturday sought to press its advantage under the 'runners-up formula', demanding National Assembly seats in Punjab on technical grounds despite not being runners-up on most of them, The Express Tribune has learnt.
PPP Central Punjab President and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, along with PPP Secretary General and former Senate chairman Nayar Hussain Bukhari, addressed a joint press conference in Lahore with senior PML-N leaders Hanif Abbasi, Federal Railways Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazl Chaudhry.
The leaders formally announced that both parties had agreed to a seat-adjustment mechanism.
Under the arrangement, the party fielding a candidate as runner-up would receive unconditional support from the other, they said.
The Express Tribune had earlier reported that the PPP would refrain from fielding candidates against the PML-N and instead lean on the 'runners-up' arrangement. However, background discussions with PPP office-bearers indicate the party is pushing for additional seats in Punjab by invoking "technicalities".
One PPP office-bearer disclosed that the party is eyeing NA-1 (Chitral), NA-143 (Sahiwal), NA-175 (Muzaffargarh) and NA-185 (Dera Ghazi Khan). He argued that PPP candidates had secured more votes than their PML-N counterparts in these constituencies and therefore deserved the seats. "We have sought these seats from PML-N," he claimed.
When pressed on the fact that PPP was not the runner-up in any of these Punjab constituencies except Muzaffargarh, the source maintained that their vote tally exceeded PML-N's in several cases.
However, scrutiny of results tells a different story. For example, in Dera Ghazi Khan, the PML-N candidate had contested as an independent and came second, while PPP's Dost Muhammad Khosa finished third. In Sahiwal, the seat was left open for the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), where Nouman Ahmad Langrial contested as an IPP candidate, while the PPP finished a distant fifth.
"The rules of runners-up apply only where PML-N's candidate was not ahead of ours," the PPP source insisted. When asked about PP-89 Faisalabad, which was also left open for IPP, the source clarified that the party's focus was specifically on the four constituencies mentioned.
Meanwhile, a senior PPP leader admitted he had limited knowledge of the latest developments but said his conversations with the central leadership suggested that in Punjab, the party might realistically secure only NA-175.
PPP Secretary General Nayar Hussain Bukhari, speaking to The Express Tribune, confirmed that the party had agreed to the formula "in principle".
When asked about seats PPP was seeking on "technical grounds," he responded: "We will hold discussions with PML-N on seats where such controversy would arise".
Pressed further on whether modalities had been finalised, Bukhari added: "These details would be worked out later".
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