LAHORE:
The Pakistan-Nawaz Muslim League (PML-N) has opted for a cautious strategy in Lahore, granting its NA-129 ticket in the finalist of last year, while simultaneously he took a jump of faith in Wazirabad through the presentation of Bilal Tarar, the brother of the Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, a partial relative to the constituent, in Hopes of a new Partyghold.
The party has also announced its candidate for PP-87 Mianwali.
Meanwhile, the PPP coalition partner remains in the fence on whether to compete at all. Any decision will be subject to the result of the consultation with PML-N, according to the secretary general of the party.
On the other hand, although Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) has officially declared a boycott, some inside the rows of the party urge the Founder imprisoned by the party, Imran Khan, to reconsider the decision.
In Lahore NA-129, the PML-N ticket was delivered to Mian Muhammad Nouman, who finished second in the 2024 general elections.
A hot contest is expected since Hamad Azhar de PTI, son of the late Mna Mian Azhar, entered the ring and will fight for this seat under the PTI Banner, since it does not fall within the constituencies that the party has chosen to leave.
The late Mian Azhar had captured the seat last year with more than 103,000 votes, defeating Nouman by a margin of 32,000 votes, with Nouman ensuring just over 71,000.
Initially, it was said that the president of the Prime Minister’s Youth Council, Rana Mashhood, was in the race for the ticket, but last -minute consultations within the Sharif family, and a meeting between Khawaja Saad Rafique and the prime minister, presented the verdict in favor of Nouman.
In the PP-87 of Mianwali, the PML-N ticket has gone to Ali Haider Noor Khan Niazi, who was also the nominee of the party in 2018. He had finally boycotted the survey rescheduled in protest, claiming to rig in the general elections.
In 2024, the ticket was instead at the deserter Pti Inamullah Khan Niazi, a relative of Imran Khan, who lost by a huge margin of 95,000 votes against Ahmad Khan Bachar de PTI.
Niazi, after his protest because a game ticket was denied in 2024, broke ranges to form his own panel and ran as an independent candidate of NA-90 (Mianwali), only to be defeated by an amazing margin of approximately 150,000 votes.
However, despite going rogue in 2024, Ali Noor retained cordial ties with PML-N Punjab president, Rana Sanaullah Khan, who believes he played a decisive role in ensuring this ticket.
In particular, Rana Sanoullah, after having lost its traditional strength seat in Faisalabad to the PTI, has now been compensated with a nomination to the party for a seat in the Punjab Senate.
While the PML-N reorganizes its strategy, the PPP remains in the sea. The secretary general of the Nayyar Hussain Bukhari party said that PPP would consult with its allies, particularly the PML-N, before making a final decision.
The final decision of whether PPP will submit to its candidates or would not be taken within the party, he said, and added that the applications had been invited and that a verdict would arrive soon.
Speculation continues to turn in Punjab that the PPP can choose not to participate, a movement that observers say they could torpedo their already fragile efforts to venture into the province, particularly if PTI is absent from the field.
