The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have decided to jointly contest by-elections.
According to details surfaced on Saturday, both the parties agreed to field the runner-up from the previous election in the forthcoming by-elections. This formula was announced by former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi in a joint presser held in Islamabad, after the meeting was held between the delegations of both the parties.
Ashraf made it clear that the meeting was held on the instructions of the bigwigs of both the parties, adding that he would like to express his gratitude to the country’s premier for reaching the consensus on the by-elections.
Meanwhile, Abbasi was of the view that the entire country should know that both the PML-N and PPP were allied parties.
Abbasi maintained, “It has been decided that both the parties would back the candidates from each other’s parties.”
According to the agreement, joint candidates will be fielded in six National Assembly constituencies and three provincial constituencies. Under the formula, the party that secured second position in the respective constituency during the 2024 general election will nominate the joint candidate.
Of the nine seats included in the understanding, eight will be contested by candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while one will be contested by the PPP.
The PPP would field a candidate on the vacant NA-185 seat in Dera Ghazi Khan, previously held by Zartaj Gul. The PML-N will support the PPP candidate in that constituency.
In Faisalabad, the PML-N will field candidates in two National Assembly constituencies—NA-96 and NA-104—and one Provincial Assembly seat, PP-98. These candidates will contest under the PML-N’s election symbol, the lion.
In Wazirabad, the PML-N would nominate a joint candidate for NA-66, the seat formerly held by Ahmed Chattha.
Following the demise of Mian Azhar, the PML-N will also contest the vacant seat of NA-129, Lahore. In Sahiwal’s NA-143 constituency, the joint candidate of the allied parties will also represent the PML-N.
In addition, the PML-N candidates will be supported by both parties in PP-87 Mianwali and PP-203 Sahiwal, where voters of both the PML-N and the PPP are expected to vote for the lion symbol.
No by-election will be held in NA-175, Muzaffargarh, due to a stay order issued by the Lahore High Court. The seat became vacant following the disqualification of Jamshed Dasti.
