News
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
No progress on seat adjustmentPML-N may go solo in Punjab, KP
* Would make seat adjustments in Sindh, Balochistan
* Party to announce election candidates shortly
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) appears heading towards a “solo flight” in the upcoming general elections, at least in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as no progress has been made in seat adjustment with other political parties.
In Sindh and Balochistan, the party would be making seat adjustments as well as electoral alliances, as going solo will make it hard for the party to make electoral strides there. The PML-N had entered into seat adjustment negotiations with the JUI-F, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and PML-Likeminded and talks were held on various occasions. But so far, the PML-N and these parties are far from thrashing out a seat adjustment formula.
The most severe setback came for the PML-Likeminded (PML-LM) that was relying on PML-N and demanding over a dozen seats where its candidates would be supported by the PML-N, but the latter saw it as an unrealistic demand. The PML-LM has no strong political presence anywhere in the country to influence the election results and it would have been an unwise decision to give them over twelve seats of the National Assembly, sources in PML-N told Daily Times on Monday.
However, the party will accommodate Hamayun Akthar Khan and Saleem Saifullah, who can achieve positive results with the support of PML-N, in two constituencies. The talks for seats adjustments between the PML-N and JI are also heading nowhere, as so far nothing concrete has come out of them. The PML-N sources said that JI is making unrealistic demands in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the religio-political party wants half the seats of national and provincial assemblies where PML-N should support its candidates.
In view of low penetration of the JI in the province except in a few pockets, the PML-N could not enter into such an arrangement because the JI could benefit from it but not the PML-N. As far as the JUI-F is concerned, the party was well-connected with PML-N over seat adjustments and they could have finalised the issue earlier, however Chaudhry Nisar Ali’s abrupt and unilateral move on caretaker prime minister annoyed the JUI-F leadership.
Sources said that back-door channels are active in bringing both the parties close to each other. However, it seems difficult that the two parties would arrive on a decision.
In Sindh and Balochistan, the PML-N has no problem because it has already entered into an electoral alliance with the PML-Functional and nationalist parties in Sindh, whereas in Balochistan it would be supporting national Baloch and Pashtun parties and vice versa.
Meanwhile, the PML-N is all set to announce names of party’s candidates within a day or two, as a decision in this regard has almost been made. “We are heading positively to finalising the names of election candidates for the National Assembly and provincial assemblies. Hopefully, it would be done within a couple of days,” said party’s Information Secretary Mushahidullah Khan. According to another party leader, the list was being prepared under direct supervision of party chief Nawaz Sharif.
He had also reconstituted the Parliamentary Board recently for better screening of the applications.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk