LAHORE:
The Peoples Party of Pakistan (PPP) sought on Saturday to press its advantage under the ‘Finalist Formula’, demanding seats from the National Assembly in Punjab for technical reasons despite not being runner -up in most of them, has learned the Express PAkGazette.
The president of PPP Central Punjab, and former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, together with the general secretary of the PPP and former president of the Senate, Nayar Hussain Bukhari, went to a joint press conference in LaHore with the senior leaders of PML-N Hanif Abbasi, Federal Minister of Ferrocarriles and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazl Chaudhry.
The leaders formally announced that both parties had agreed a seat adjustment mechanism.
According to the agreement, the party presenting a candidate as second place would receive unconditional support from the other, they said.
The Express PAkGazette had previously reported that the PPP would refrain from presenting candidates against the PML-N and, instead, rely on the ‘runner-up agreement’. However, the background discussions with the PPP office bearers indicate that the party is pressing additional seats in Punjab invoking “technicalities.”
A bearer of the PPP office revealed that the party is looking at Na-1 (Chitral), Na-143 (Sahiwal), Na-175 (Muzaffarh) and NA-185 (Dera Ghazi Khan). He argued that PPP candidates had assured more votes than their PML-N counterparts in these voters and, therefore, deserved the seats. “We have sought these PML-N seats,” he said.
When he was pressed on the fact that PPP was not the runner-up in any of these Punjab circumscriptions, except Muzaffarh, the source said that its voting account exceeded the PML-N in several cases.
However, the scrutiny of the results tells a different story. For example, in Dera Ghazi Khan, PML-N candidate had played as independent and was second, while Dost Muhammad Khosa of PPP finished third. In Sahiwal, the seat was left open for the Itemhkam-E-Pakistan (IPP) party, where Nouman Ahmad Langial challenged as IPP candidate, while the PPP finished a fifth distant.
“The finalist rules apply only where the PML-N candidate was not ahead of ours,” insisted the source of the PPP. When asked about the PP-89 Faisalabad, which was also left open for IPP, the source clarified that the party’s approach was specifically in the four aforementioned constituencies.
Meanwhile, a main leader of the PPP admitted that he had limited knowledge of the last developments, but said that his conversations with central leadership suggested that in Punjab, the party could realistically ensure only NA-175.
The general secretary of the PPP, Nayar Hussain Bukhari, speaking with the Express PAkGazette, confirmed that the party had agreed for the formula “in principle.”
When asked about the seats that PPP was looking for “technical land,” he replied: “We will maintain discussions with PML-N in the seats where said controversy would arise.”
Pressing even more about whether the modalities had been finished, Bukhari added: “These details would be elaborated later.”
