PMLN issues more NA, PA tickets for Punjab districts

LAHORE/FAISALABAD/SIALKOT: The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) Thursday announced names of some more candidates for various constituencies in Punjab, though rifts persisted among the party leaders over award of the party tickets.

Several aspirants and party die-hards could not get the party tickets to contest elections, and some of them announced contesting elections as independent candidates. Party sources said the PMLN had to leave five National Assembly and 11 Punjab Assembly constituencies for Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), while two seats each in National and Provincial assemblies were given to Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PMLQ).

The PMLN is yet to announce its candidates from Lahore, where they might give one seat to IPP President Abdul Aleem Khan, sources said and added the issue of leaving the seat for Aleem Khan was intensely debated in the party meetings and most of the leaders were not in favour of leaving the seat vacant for the IPP.

Sources said the other seats on which the PMLN may have seat adjustment with the IPP included seats of IPP chief Jahangir Khan Tareen (NA-155 Lodhran and NA-149 Multan), Nauman Langriyal from NA-143 Sahiwal, Engineer Gul Asghar NA-88 Khushab and Ghulam Sarwar Khan from NA-54 Rawalpindi.

Similarly, the PMLN also gave approval for issuing tickets to 9 out of 10 defecting members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Raja Riaz, former leader of the opposition in National Assembly, got a PMLN ticket from Faisalabad.

Apart from them, Syed Mubeen from NA-169 in Rahim Yar Khan, Samiul Hasan Gilani from NA-166 Bahawalpur, Basit Bukhari from Muzaffargarh NA-176, Aamir Gopang from NA-178, Ahmed Hussain from NA-148 in Multan, Rana Qasim from NA-153 were given the party tickets.

The party also decided to issue tickets to Riyaz Mazari from NA-189 Rajanpur and Abdul Ghaffar Wattoo from NA-160 Bahawalnagar.

The PMLN faced criticism from former member National Assembly, Ayesha Rajab Baloch, who announced contesting election as an independent candidate after not getting the party ticket. The PMLN had issued ticket to Ayesha Rajab’s brother-in-law Ali Gohar from Tandlianwala NA-97 constituency and ignored her.

Sources said the decision of Nawab Sher Wasair and Talal Chaudhry from NA-96 was yet to be decided and it was likely that Talal might not get the party ticket.

Daniyal Aziz was also one of the victim of his own party as he was not given the party ticket from Narowal and PMLN Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal managed to get the ticket from there, while the party ticket from the other National Assembly constituency of Narowal was awarded to Ch Anwarul Haq. Daniyal Aziz also announced contesting the election as an independent candidate.

In PP-144, Mujtaba Jamal, younger brother of Ahsan Iqbal, was not given the party ticket, while Chaudhry Sajjad Gujjar got the ticket from the constituency, though he had applied for party ticket for PP-143, which was his home constituency.

However, sources said the situation was yet not clear and the PMLN may face internal rifts in many constituencies of Punjab, especially those where seat adjustment was done with the IPP and the PMLQ.

The PMLN has, so far, released names of ticket holders for 113 National and 226 provincial assembly constituencies. On Thursday, the party tickets were issued for three constituencies of the National Assembly and 16 constituencies of the Punjab Assembly.

Earlier, a list comprising names of 110 National Assembly and 210 provincial assembly ticket holders was released by the party.

In the latest list, issued on Thursday, NA-60 Jhelum ticket was given to Bilal Azhar Kayani, NA-61 Jhelum to Farrukh Altaf and NA-109 Jhang to Muhammad Yaqoob Khan.

The provincial assembly tickets were issued to Safdar Ghulam Abbas (Chakwal), Faisal Khan (PP-46 Gujranwala), in Narowal the ticket was given to Muhammad Akmal Sargalla for PP-55; Rashida Yaqoob was given ticket for PP-127 Jhang; Farooq Ahmed Manika for PP-193, Chaudhry Javed Ahmed for PP-194, Attaur Rehman for PP-210, Malik Anwar Ali for PP-216, Mian Amjad Majeed for PP-244, Manzoor Chandia for PP-269, Imtiaz Aleem Qureshi for PP-270, Tahir Randhawa for PP-280, Shakur Sehwag for PP-281, Sharif Afgan Gurchani for PP-292, Sher Ali Gurchani for PP-293 and Safdar Mahmood Yusuf for PP-296.

In Faisalabad, the ticket of Ajmal Cheema in PP 98 has also been delayed. Former MPA Chaudhry Sahfiq Gujjar, former advisor of Prime Minister Rana Ahsan Afzal, former district president of PML-N Ch Safdur Rahman, and Chaudhry Sher Ali’s blue-eyed Khawaja Muhammad Rizwan have also failed to get tickets.

Former MNAs Ali Gohar Baloch, Rana Sanaullah, and Abid Sher Ali panels have been retained.

For five National Assembly and 10 Punjab Assembly constituencies in Sialkot district, 14 candidates managed to secure the PMLN party tickets. There was no new face among them as most have already contested and won elections in the past. Ch Armughan Subhani (NA-70), Khawaja Muhammad Asif (NA-71), Ali Zahid (NA-72), Naushin Iftikhar (NA-73) and Rana Shamim Khan (NA-74) are among the candidates nominated to compete for the five NA seats.

Among holders of tickets for 10 Punjab Assembly seats include Rana Arif Jarnah (PP-44), Chaudhry Tariq Sunhani (PP-45), Manshaullah Butt (PP-47), Rana Liaquat Ali (PP-48), Rana Muhammad Afzal (PP-49), Navid Ashraf (PP-50), Zeeshan Rafique (PP-51), Arshad Javed Warraich (PP-52) and Rana Abdul Sattar (PP-53).

The candidate for the Punjab Assembly seat PP-46, the only seat in Sialkot district which the PTI could win in the Election 2018, would be announced later in a few days. All the above mentioned ticket holders, except for Naushin Iftikhar, have won not only in the elections of 2018 but in the previous many elections as well. Naushin Iftikhar won the by-election in 2021 after the demise of her father MMA Syed Iftikharul Hasan.

On the other side, Khawaja Asif, Rana Shamim and Manshaullah Butt enjoy long political and election experience spanning over three decades. It would be interesting to mention that all three local politicians are among the most aged ones with Manshaullah Butt (84) as the senior most and Kh Asif and Rana Shamim in their mid-seventies.