Daily Times

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has rejected claims that his victory from Larkana in the February 8 general elections was manipulated.

In a post on X, he shared the links of Form-45s from all polling stations in the NA-194 constituency. “I do not take such allegations lightly. The PPP has sacrificed the blood of leadership and workers for democracy,” Bilawal said, adding that those who make false accusations do an injustice to those with legitimate concerns. “I will be taking legal action against those who have made false accusations against me,” he added.

Meanwhile, the PPP is expected to announce its nominees for the posts of Balochistan chief minister, Senate chairman and provincial governors soon.

The development comes after the PPP struck an agreement with the PML-N to support the latter in forming the future government by voting for its prime ministerial candidate Shehbaz Sharif in exchange for key constitutional posts along with a coalition government in Balochistan.

The party emerged as “King’s party” with its 54 National Assembly (NA) after neither the PML-N (79 NA seats) nor the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed independents (92 NA seats) managed to secure a simple majority to form their government in the Centre – allowing the PPP to bargain for the slot of president’s office among other key constitutional posts.

Sources say the party has mulled over three names for the Balochistan chief minister’s post, including Sadiq Imrani, Sanaullah Zehri and Sarfraz Bugti, and will announce the nominee for the province’s chief executive within the next 36 hours, reported The News.

For the post of Senate chairman, the top constitutional post after the president, the PPP is considering the names of the party’s Vice Chairman Yousuf Raza Gillani, Salim Mandviwalla, Farooq Naik and Sherry Rehman.

However, Gillani is likely to be the party’s first choice for the post of Senate chairman, sources added. If nominated by the party, the former prime minister – elected as senator from Islamabad in 2021 as a joint candidate of the opposition – will have to vacate Multan’s NA-148 seat that he won during the February 8 polls.

His younger son is then likely to contest the seat in the subsequent by-election.

Furthermore, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, who is poised to become the country’s president for the second time, will announce the party’s nominee for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) governor either today or tomorrow (Friday) as per the party’s KP Deputy General Secretary Abrar Saeed.