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Battle lines drawn as PML-N hints at going solo in polls

LAHORE: Ruling out ‘a major seat adjustment’ with like-minded parties in Punjab, the ruling PML-N on Friday set the tone for the coming electoral battle with the announcement that it would field candidates in all national and provincial constituencies in the province. The PML-N also announced kicking off the election campaign as the tenure of the incumbent PDM government, led by PML-N, is ending in the second week of next month. “The PML-N will field its candidates for all national and provincial assembly seats in Punjab. We will not go for a major seat adjustment with any party as we have to oblige our loyal workers. However, adjustment may be considered on a ‘few seats’ where our candidates happen to be weak,” PML-N Punjab president and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told a presser in Model Town. The PML-N has sought the list of potential candidates from the party’s district presidents in the province. Mr Sanaullah said PML-N had kicked off its election campaign, adding that if the party won it would end inflation, give relief to people and put the country on road to progress. Sana says party will vie for all NA, PA seats in Punjab; incensed IPP vows to sink Sharifs in elections; PPP sets its sights on regaining lost ground on its own No hint has been dropped by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif or any other leader when the elections will be held as they have been insisting that it is the domain of the ECP to issue the polls schedule. When asked whether the polls would be held on time or deferred, the minister replied that the “elections will certainly be held”. The interior minister said the ruling coalition had worked hard to steer the country out of the major economic crisis. In reply to a question whether the government would take any action against those who had allegedly engineered the polls in 2018 to keep the PML-N out of power, he said: “If PML-N wins in the coming elections then it will look into this matter.” Answering a question regarding who would be the party’s candidates for the prime minister and chief minister, he said: “The party’s parliamentary board and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif will decide about it.” However, he declared that the mastermind of May 9 incidents would definitely be brought to justice. IPP, PPP reaction The Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) and PPP reacted sharply to the PML-N’s reluctance to go for major seat adjustments, saying they preferred to contest the polls against the Sharifs. IPP Information Secretary Firdous Ashiq Awan told Dawn that since the inception of her party the PML-N was trying to give an impression that IPP was its ‘B-team’ and would contest polls along with it. “Make no mistake. The IPP would contest independently and defeat the PML-N in Punjab as we will grab the anti-Sharifs votes,” she claimed. She expressed the confidence that people would not vote for PML-N because it had made their lives miserable as inflation has skyrocketed during its one-and-a-half-year rule. The IPP of Jahangir Khan Tareen comprises mostly those who had deserted Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and is dubbed as the ‘king’s party’. Dr Awan said that once the ECP announced the election date her party would make its presence felt in Punjab. Talking to Dawn, PPP Punjab senior vice-president Haider Zaman Qureshi said Peoples Party would not go for seat adjustment with PML-N. “Our supporter will not vote for PML-N or vice versa. In July Punjab by-polls the joint candidate formula miserably failed. Seat adjustment between PPP and PML-N will unnecessarily create additional support base and sympathy for Imran Khan’s PTI or other parties’ candidates such as IPP, PML-Q and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan. It is in the best interest of PPP to regain its support base lost in 2018 in Punjab,” he said. Mr Qureshi further said that Punjab being the main battleground for both provincial and national assembly seats, adjustment would prove to be counterproductive for both PPP and PML-N, who had total opposite and different ideologies. Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2023
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