Tough competition: PML-N board to interview Senate candidates from Feb 3

All 11 Senate seats from Punjab are likely to be won by PML-N candidates.

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentary board, formed to finalise candidates for the Senate elections, will hold its first meeting on Tuesday, The Express Tribune has learnt.

“The meeting will take place in Islamabad. The candidates for Senate elections will be interviewed,” said a board member, who requested anonymity.

“The meeting will finalise the candidates. Punjab is the province from where the party is likely to win the most seats. All 11 seats of Senate from the Punjab could go to the party. The party has 312 seats in Punjab Assembly out of a total 369 seats,” a senior party leader told The Express Tribune.

The Senate election will be held for 52 seats in March. Of the 52 outgoing senators, eight are from the PML-N. They are: Yaqoob Khan Nasir, Jaffar Iqbal, Mushahidullah Khan, Pervaiz Rasheed, Raja Zafarul Haq, Zafar Ali Shah, Prof Sajid Mir and Najma Hamid.

Except for Nasir, who is from Balochistan, all the outgoing PML-N senators are from the Punjab. Prof Sajid Mir was elected on a technocrat seat and Najma Hamid on a seat reserved for women.

“So far the names of Pervaiz Rashid, Mushahidullah Khan and Raja Zafarul Haq have been finalised. Jaffar Iqbal is also in the run for governorship. Zafar Ali Shah’s name has not been finalised. Four candidates on general seats from the Punjab are still to be decided,” he said.

The Parliamentary Board is chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is its convener. Other members of the board are: Raja Zafarul Haq, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Pervaiz Rashid, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PML-N president Pir Sabir Shah, Sindh PML-N president Ismail Rahu, Balochistan PML-N president Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, Senators Sardar Yaqob Khan Nasir and Nuzhat Sadiq and Political Secretary to the PM Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2rd, 2015.