Fresh blood: ‘Young guns in PML-N should be made senators’

A group in the party favours fielding new faces in Upper House elections

LAHORE: Several groups in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have started lobbying for their candidates for the Senate elections scheduled for March.

Of the 369 members in the Punjab Assembly, the PML-N has 312 seats. The party can win all 11 Senate seats in the province unless Pakistan Tehreek-i-Isnaf (PTI) joins hands with the PML-Quaid (PML-Q).

PTI chairman Imran Khan has announced that the party would contest Senate elections from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only.

“Many in the party favour fielding new candidates,” a PML-N leader said. He said several young PML-N workers who worked for party think tanks had not been nominated for general elections.

“They should be encouraged to contest Senate elections. A PML-N ticket will guarantee victory,” he said.

A PML-N MNA said a group in the party believed that young workers had helped the party win the 2013 general elections.

“They say that instead of old parliamentarians, new faces should be elected senators,” he said.

Of the 52 outgoing senators, eight are from the PML-N. They include Yaqoob Khan Nasir, Jaffar Iqbal, Mushahidullah Khan, Pervaiz Rasheed, Raja Zafarul Haq, Zafar Ali Shah and Prof Sajid Mir.

“Induction of fresh Senators will show people that the party prefers youth over the status quo,” the MNA said. He said all the outgoing senators in the Punjab were from cities other than Lahore.

“There is a campaign within the party that at least one senator should be from Lahore,” another party leader said. He said Senate election had had nothing to do with general elections.

“The party has a chance to rise above local compromises and bring middle class youth to the fore.”

Parliamentary Secretary in the Punjab Assembly Rana Arshad said the PML-N would sweep the Senate election from the province.

He said rules did not allow those below 40 years of age to elected senators. “The party believes in the youth welfare. However, candidates will be awarded tickets after a consultation with party leaders,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2015.