the electoral fray, Jehangir Tareen will certainly be the party’s candidate in Lodhran. At present, the PML-N nominee in NA-154 is not known.
It may again field Rafiuddin Bokhari, who had stood third in the 2013 general elections by securing 45,634 votes (as against 86,177 ballots of winner Siddique Baloch) and who is not disqualified. Tareen had bagged 75,955 votes and stood second.
However, the big decision will be that of PTI Chairman Imran Khan whether or not to vie for NA-122 where he was defeated by Ayaz Sadiq in 2013. Because of his clout, the PTI chief will become a formidable contestant against Ayaz Sadiq, who will be surely nominated by the PML-N. However, any other PTI representative, who will be fielded, will not have that much bright prospects like that of Imran Khan.
Imran Khan is not required to vacate his NA-54 Rawalpindi seat prior to competing for NA-122. Under clause 4 of Article 223 of the Constitution, if a member of the Senate or national or a provincial assembly becomes a candidate for a second seat, he may not hold concurrently with his first seat, and his first seat shall become vacant as soon as he is elected to the second seat.
By going for the fresh polls, the PML-N wants to release the tremendous pressure that it has faced after the unseating of its three MPs by the election tribunals in a short span in a row. These rulings no doubt served as a great morale booster for the PTI.
In the presence of the same members, the ECP had organised the local council elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the subsequent re-polling in nearly 400 polling stations. The recent by-election to NA-19 Haripur were undisputed and impartial. Although the PTI had squarely put the blame of massive faux pas and mismanagement in the KP local elections on the ECP, which the electoral body had strongly rebutted, it had not specifically accused the ECP members of any partisanship and partiality.
Similarly, the PTI has also not objected to the members’ continuation during the forthcoming local council polls in Punjab and Sindh for which the schedule was announced on Wednesday. Additionally, it had not hurled any allegations on the ECP members during hearings in the three-member judicial commission or demanded their ouster for having rigged the elections.