Daily Times

A day after party loyalist Zaeem Qadri defected and announced to contest election as an independent, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday tickets would be alotted only on the recommendation of the party’s parliamentary board.

Following his return from London, the PML-N president chaired a meeting in Lahore to oversee the party’s plan for the upcoming election.

Those in attendance include Hamza Shehbaz, who was targetted by Qadri in his press conference on Thursday.

Speaking at the meeting, Sharif said candidates will be given priority on the basis of merit, discipline and loyalty.

Following today’s meeting, PML-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) leaders Amir Muqam and Murtaza Javed Abbasi called on Shehbaz. They apprised the party president of the campaign in the province.

In his fiery outburst on Thursday, Qadri had claimed he would no longer be subservient to Shehbaz and Hamza, and lashed out at them for selecting his name for a ticket to contest the July 25 election from NA-133. The former MPA vowed to contest the upcoming polls from Lahore as an independent candidate.

The PML-N has yet to finalise its list of candidates. Media reports on Friday maintained that PML-N Lahore president Pervaiz Malik and Kulsoom Nawaz’s nephew Bilal Yasin were both vying for the NA-125 ticket in case Maryam Nawaz decided to opt for a different constituency.

However, in a statement given to a private TV channel, Yasin clarified that he would contest the election for a provincial assembly seat. “If Maryam Nawaz contests the election from NA-125 then I will contest the polls from PP-150,” he said, adding that he had spoken to Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in this regard before they left for London.

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.