ISLAMABAD: The decision of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to extendthe deadline for accepting applications for party tickets for generalelections is bacause of the reason that party is unable to find thecandidates for the upcoming General Elections.
On the contrary, the PML-N claims that the date has been extended till May31 because of a ‘huge’ number of applications received from candidates tocontest elections for the national and Punjab assemblies.
A PML-N spokesman earlier on Friday claimed that “more than one thousand”applications were received from Punjab for party tickets. However, he didnot specify the number of applications received for the 342-member NationalAssembly and the 371-member Punjab Assembly.
But sources in the ruling party do not agree to the stated reason behindextension in the deadline.
“It’s illogical to argue that since huge number of applications hasarrived, the deadline has been extended. If a huge number of applicantsseek tickets for the polls, it will lead to conflict within the party [butnothing such has been witnessed yet],” said a PML-N lawmaker, who hasserved on the party’s parliamentary board in the past.
This view was endorsed by another party legislator from Punjab who saidthat PML-N leadership decided in 1997 that the party would seekapplications for general elections for seven to ten days at the maximum.
“Prior to the general elections in 1997, applications for party ticketswere arriving in unprecedented numbers. There was a lot of internallobbying leading to infighting and tug-of-war,” he said, adding that it wasthen decided that applications for the party tickers would be received fornot more than a week or so, a practice which was followed in the years thatfollowed.
On April 11, a top-level PML-N huddle decided to receive applications forthe upcoming general elections from May 15 to 25, before the deadline wasextended to May 31. The ruling party has fixed Rs50,000 as ticket fees forNA (general) seat, Rs100,000 for NA (reserved) seat, Rs30,000 forprovincial assembly (general) seat and Rs75,000 for provincial assembly(reserved) seat.
According to PML-N sources, a poor demand for party ticket is embarrassingfor party President Shehbaz Sharif and his aides as the reluctance ofcandidates to apply for PML-N tickets not only gives credence to the claimsthat powerful political candidates are preferring the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), but also validates the perception that the PML-N isstruggling to stay united under Shehbaz’s leadership without Nawaz Sharifat the helms.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who is a close aide of Punjab chiefminister, denied that the date for accepting applications for party ticketswas extended due to a slack response from candidates.
“Applicants from across the country are visiting PML-N offices to apply forparty tickets which prompted us to extend the deadline,” he said.
To a query regarding the exact number of applications, he said the samewould be released after May 31.