ISLAMABAD: With the Senate elections nearing, major political parties of the country have started to accelerate the process of shortlisting of their candidates for the elections due next month.
A source in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) informed Pakistan Today that Prime Minister Imran Khan is skeptical about the shortlisting of party’s candidates amid reports of lobbying for party tickets.
The source said that Imran Khan has decided that he himself would decide the party tickets and would take decisions while chairing the parliamentary board of the PTI. The source said that the party secretariat had made several nominations for the Senate elections.
The source also said that at least four special assistants to PM Imran are vying for the Senate tickets – Dr Babar Awan, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, Syed Zulfiqar Bokhari, Shahzad Akbar, Dr Faisal Sultan, Abdul Razzak Dawood and Shahbaz Gill are also lobbying. The source said that Senator Shibli Faraz is most likely to get a party ticket and return to the Senate from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
The source said that from Sindh, PTI is likely to get Senator on general seat while technocrat seat would go to Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and reserved seat for women would be given to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) under power sharing deal.
The source said that Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh is likely to get party ticket from Sindh while Mehmood Moulvi, Hunaid Lakhani and Faraz Lakhani are also in the line of hopefuls.
Moreover, the source said that Ijaz Chaudhry, Saifullah Niazi and Malik Amin Aslam are top contenders for the Senate elections from Punjab while Jahangir Tareen’s son Ali Tareen may also be awarded a party ticket.
Kamil Ali Agha’s name has been finalised from Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) while Bukhari’s name is likely to be shortlisted for the seat from Islamabad. Nilofer Bakhtiar, Nighat Mahmood and Neelam Irshad are under consideration for the women’s seat.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is also discussing its Senate candidates and party’s leader Maryam Nawaz is heading the decision-making process.
According to a source, Pervez Rashid, Professor Sajid Mir and Raja Zafarul Haq have been shortlisted for the Senate elections, while former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair and former Punjab governor Rafiq Rajwana are also hoping to get Senate tickets.
For the women’s category, PML-N leader Ayesha Raza Farooq is trying to get back to the Upper House of the parliament. However, a final decision has not yet been made by the party chief.
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has also intensified preparations for the Senate elections. A source said that PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari is considering fielding a mix of new and old faces and Sherry Rehman and Farooq H Naik are shortlisted. Salim Mandviwala has been asked not to apply for the ticket and he would be accommodated in Sindh.
