Seven parties join hands against PML-N for Punjab LG polls

PTI denies agreeing to join any alliance against ruling party

LAHORE: Seven opposition parties have joined hands against the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for the upcoming local government elections in Punjab.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP), Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) have decided to work out a seat adjustment deal for the polls scheduled for October 31, PPP Central Punjab Chairman Manzoor Wattoo announced on Sunday.

He was speaking to the media after a meeting of the representatives of the seven parties to cobble together an alliance against the ruling party. “All seven parties have decided to let their district-level leadership choose candidates they will field against the PML-N,” he told reporters.

The PTI, however, denied it had agreed to any seat adjustment deal with the PPP. According to the party’s deputy organizer, Umar Sarfaraz Cheema, the seven opposition parties agreed only to prevent the PML-N from rigging the local government elections and to demand the resignation of the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th,  2015.