RAWALPINDI: All the PML-N workers contesting elections on reserved seats in the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC), scheduled to be held on February 8, will do so as independent candidates, due to the party’s failure to issue party tickets.

Friday (January 29) was the last date to submit party tickets with the returning officer. When the officer did not receive party tickets from PML-N, a separate election symbol was issued to candidates contesting reserved seats.

The two-third majority of PML-N members in RMC has been put in a difficult position to fill the reserved seats after the party failed to announce tickets due to differences within the party.

Party leadership failed to issue tickets in time, PML-N candidates issued separate election symbol

A senior PML-N leader told Dawn the party did not announce names for party ticketholders because most of the tickets were awarded to local leaders’ relatives, and so the list was kept secret to prevent a reaction from the party workers.

He said local leaders of the youth and labour wings threatened to launch protests against the party leadership if they awarded party tickets to their relatives.

The PML-N leader said the party would inform members of the party leadership’s decision a day before the polls so they can vote for selected individuals for the RMC reserved seats.

However, PML-N metropolitan president Sardar Naseem claimed the decision had not yet been made due to confusion regarding the mode of election.

“The election commission has yet to clarify whether the reserved seats will be filled through proportional representation or through secret balloting in the house,” he said.

Mr Naseem said the provincial government issued an ordinance on January 20 to fill the reserved seats through proportional representation, with secret balloting for the mayor and deputy mayors. However, the ordinance was not accepted by the election commission, which issued directions to returning officers to follow the schedule for secret balloting rather than proportional representation.

Mr Naseem said the party would finalise names for party tickets soon and would inform its members. He added that the party was not divided and that all members would follow party directions, or they would lose their seats.

A total of 52 candidates are contesting the elections for 17 reserved seats, including 10 for women, two each for technocrats, labour, minorities and one youth.

A total 19 women from PML-N are contesting elections for the 10 seats. Two women from PPP are also in the race.

The returning officer also faced problems while allotting election symbols to 49 independent candidates, because of a shortage of election symbols.

PPP’s women candidates Sumera Gul and Azra Naureen are contesting under the party’s ‘arrow’ symbol. “We only fielded our candidates from women’s seats because we didn’t have enough to contest elections on other seats,” PPP city president Amir Fida Paracha told Dawn.

Mr Paracha said three PPP members had been elected to RMC and the party would win the seat with the support of other opposition members from PTI and Awami Muslim League (AML). He said talks were underway.

PTI has also fielded two candidates, under the ‘bat’ election symbol, for women and youth seats. Lubna Iqbal is contesting a women’s reserved seat, while Mohammad Daniyal is contesting the youth seat.

“Although we do not have enough numbers to win the seats, we did not give the ruling party space to win the seats unopposed,” PTI MPA Arif Abbasi said.

He said PTI and AML would vote for their own candidates, because PPP is divided into two groups and talks for launching joint candidates had failed.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2016