PML-N ticket holders are same old familiar faces

ISLAMABAD: As much as 90 percent of the recipients of the tickets so far awarded by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) are the same figures, who were sponsored by it in the 2008 and 2013 general elections. The list exhibits no major desertions from the PML-N, and only those who joined it on eve of the last parliamentary polls or after being elected as independents said adieu to it.

A message emerging from the award of tickets is that PML-N supreme leader and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and party President Shahbaz Sharif are on same page on distribution of sponsorships for the grand electoral clash. Shahbaz Sharif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz and Rana Sanaullah are contesting both national and provincial seats indicating that any one of them could be the PML-N candidate for the office of the chief minister. As opposed to speculation, Khawaja Asif did not opt for a provincial seat and is not in the run for chief minister’s position. Members of the previous PML-N cabinet like Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Pir Hasnat of Bhera and Zahid Hamid (his son was opted instead) were left out for various reasons.

In Jhang, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Chiniot, the PML-N seems vulnerable as the candidates are weak and the people whom it invested over the last five years jumped the ship at the last minute. As against expectations, Salman Shahbaz is not fielded, and it is quite likely that he may have been told to wait for by-elections since his father is vying for multiple seats. Tickets for Khushab and most of Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan were not announced as the party infighting seems to be still resolved.

The decision making is apparently based on scientific surveys of public perception about every constituency through a reputed research company under direct supervision of Shahbaz Sharif. The political feedback is revalidated through these survey findings. It appears that the PML-N did immense home work on clan and caste demography of every constituency and district – the Jat-Arian, Rajput-Kashmiri permutation was very intricately balanced everywhere. Similarly, in South Punjab, the Saraiki-Punjabi and local-settler equation has also been taken care off.

A few old Leaguers were accepted back in the PML-N in the award of tickets. Malik Sohail Khan of Kambrial from Attock had joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) but left it and came back to the PML-N and was accommodated by it. Chaudhry Riaz of Gujar Khan was also taken back after a decade. So were Safdar Shakir of Mamoon Kanjan and Shaukat Daud of Sadiqabad.

A number of brothers were awarded the PML-N tickets. They included Rana Tanveer and Rana Afzal in Sheikhupura; Chaudhry Tufail and Chaudhry Hanif in Chichawatni, Malik Ibrar and Malik Iftikhar in Rawalpindi, Armghan Subhani and Tariq Subhani in Sialkot; Saif Khokhar and Afzal Khokhar in Lahore; Abid Raza and Shabir Raza in Gujrat; Amanat Shadikhail and Obaidullah Shadikhail in Mianwali; Mukhtar Bharat and Asif Bharat in Sargodha; Khizer Mazari and Atif Mazari in Rajanpur; Raizul Haq and Muneebul Haq in Okara; and Abbas Rivebera and Raza Robera in Okara. In Kasur, all members of a family - Rana Ishaq, Rana Hayat and Rana Iqbal – were given the tickets. They all were present in 2008 and 2013 assemblies.

No new female candidate except Maryam Nawaz, who is the first timer, is fielded in the direct elections. All former women MPs including Saira Afzal Tarar, Begum Tehmina Daultana, and Dr Shizarah Mansab Ali Khan are given tickets. Some father and son compilations were also made. They included Pervez Iqbal and Sher Ali Gorchani in Rajanpur; Sultan Mahmood Hinjra and Qasim Hinjra in Muzaffargarh; Saeed Manhias and Asif Manhais in Vehari, and Rana Shamim Khan and Rana Sattar; and Iftikharul Hasan Shah and Attaul Hasan Shah in Sialkot.

The sons of different senior PML-N leaders also got the tickets. They were Raja Muhammad Ali son of Raja Zafarul Haq; Imran Daultana son of Tehimmna Daultana in Vehari; Barrister Chaudhry Danial son of Chaudhry Tanveer in Rawalpindi; Asif Rajwana son of Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana; Umer Jaffar son of Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal in Rahim Yar Khan and Jahangir Khanzada son of slain Col (retd) Khanzada in Attock.

Hanif Abbasi was shifted to another constituency to accommodate Chaudhry Tanveer’s son against Sheikh Rashid in Rawalpindi. Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had lost his seat in delimitation and was adjusted in a new seat of Lahore. Importantly, Javed Hashmi doesn’t figure in the PML-N list. The PML-N issued the ticket to former minister Sheikh Waqas Akram for NA-115 Jhang but he has refused to accept it and announced that he will contest as an independent. However, he stated that his father Sheikh Akram will be the PML-N ticketholder for NA-116, but the party did not sponsor anyone for this constituency. His brother Shiraz Akram is the PML-N candidate from PP-126. Khalid Mahmood Sargana, who was given the PML-N ticket for PP-126 Jhang, has turned it down and announced that he will fight as an independent.

The award of tickets by the PML-N shows that it has so far finalised around 80pc of its National Assembly candidates in Punjab - 112 out of a total of 141 seats. Likewise, it took decisions about 65pc of Punjab Assembly seats by selecting 192 candidates for the 297 directly contested constituencies. This means that aspirants are yet to be selected for a number of national and provincial seats in the majority province.