Major political parties still to nominate 40pc federal, provincial candidates

ISLAMABAD: Three major political parties are yet to take decisions on fielding candidates in nearly 40pc of all the 849 federal and provincial seats for the July 25 general elections.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have separately issued partial, incomplete lists of contenders, who are much less than the total seats.

The reason behind the delay or wait and see policy about the selection of contestants is either the movement of “electables” from one party to another or non-availability of suitable candidates in these constituencies. Every side is waiting for the decision of the floating contenders to opt for one side or the other in these areas. Only then the parties will be in a position to choose their favourites there.

The situation will be largely clear for every party a couple of days before June 29 when the ROs will allocate election symbols to the candidates. On that day, the political affiliation of every challenger will be known because the symbol will only be earmarked after production of a certificate from the party chief or his designated representative. Those not aligning with any political party will be in the electoral race as independents.

“I think our parliamentary board has given final touches to allotment of 130 tickets to the candidates for the National Assembly in Punjab,” senior Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Farhatullah Babar told The News.

The PPP has almost finished this job in Sindh, but is still to do a lot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. It has shied away from releasing the names of its ticketholders in areas where it is weak and is unable to find good winning horses. In Punjab, it is faced with an unprecedented scenario.

The PML-N has also not issued even a partial list of its candidates but has made known its nominees in piecemeal, district-wise. It has not taken decisions in one go, but has consumed a long time for it.

It has been waiting for the exodus of its electables in different areas so that it has a clear picture about these constituencies to pick up right people. A senior PML-N leader said that the party will finalise the list of its nominees after Eidul Fitr. This work has been somewhat halted due to the departure of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam to London to be with ailing Begum Kulsoom on Eidul Fitr.

However, while its aspirants for a large number of Punjab seats have been made nominated, its candidates in a predominant majority of constituencies in Sindh, KP and Balochistan are not known as they have not been selected so far.

The PTI has taken a lead over the PML-N and PPP in choosing its contenders and publicly releasing their names for most federal and provincial constituencies. But it is still short of having its cardholders in the race for all the 849 seats.

By now, it has selected some 500 candidates. Of them, 180 contestants – 123 for Punjab, 32 for KP, 10 for Balochistan, eight for Sindh and seven for tribal areas - have been named for the National Assembly constituencies. Similarly, the PTI has awarded 191 tickets for Punjab Assembly seats; 84 for KP legislature seats; 23 for Balochistan assembly seats and 21 for Sindh legislature seats. These come to 319 contestants.

Of the 272 directly contested National Assembly seats, 141 constituencies are in Punjab, 61 in Sindh, 39 in KP, 16 in Balochistan and 12 in tribal areas. There are a total of 577 provincial seats – 297 in Punjab, 130 in Sindh, 99 in KP and 51 in Balochistan.

In areas where the political parties have strong candidates, they felt no hesitation in fielding them, but in constituencies where the situation is fluid and there are chances that some powerful contestants may be available after being estranged with their parties, they are waiting for their decisions. Also, the parties have held up decisions where there are serious disputes in their own ranks over the question of award of tickets.

It has happened in the past and is happening even now that a candidate, who has switched sides, has to rush back to his previous party after he was denied ticket by his new love.