ISLAMABAD: With only a few seats available and a large number of aspirants, the leadership of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) is likely to take tough decisions while finalising the candidates for the Senate elections on March 3.

Sources in the party told Dawn that a number of party members had started lobbying after the leadership formally invited applications from those willing to contest the Senate elections on the PML-N ticket. The last date for the submission of applications with a non-refundable fee of Rs50,000 is January 30.

Interactions with a number of aspirants, however, showed that some of the party leaders were not willing to submit applications without getting a green signal from the top party leadership as they did not want to be seen as rejected candidates.

“Of course, I am willing to become a senator but I will submit an application only when I am asked to do so by the Sharifs themselves,” said a senior PML-N leader and a former senator.

Party members start lobbying for tickets to contest election to upper house in March

The sources said the party leadership might make some adjustments in nominating the candidates on the seats from the province, other than their origin, to accommodate a maximum number of party loyalists. They said the party leadership could also take tough decisions by declining tickets to some of the heavyweights due to their past performance or to bring new faces and its “new favourites.”

Out of the 16 PML-N senators, eight are retiring on March 11 after completing their six-year term. Out of these, seven are from Punjab and one is from Balochistan. Since the Senate elections always depend on the party position in the four provincial assemblies and the National Assembly, the PML-N is expected to gain almost all the 11 seats from the Punjab and two seats from Islamabad. The party may get only two to three seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Those PML-N senators retiring from Punjab are Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid, Environment Minister Mushahidullah Khan, Chaudhry Jaffar Iqbal, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Prof Sajid Mir and Najma Hameed. Sardar Yaqoob Nasir is the only PML-N senator retiring from Balochistan.

There is a general feeling within the party ranks that a majority of those retiring may get the tickets again leaving behind only limited seats available for the newcomers.

Some senior party leaders believed that only the tickets for Raja Zafarul Haq, Pervaiz Rasheed, Mushahidullah Khan and Sajid Mir, who actually belonged to Jamiat Ahle Hadith, seemed to be confirmed. However, they suggested that Mr Haq might get the ticket from Islamabad to accommodate a new face from Punjab.

According to them, Prof Sajid Mir’s chances of getting the ticket for another term were bright because of his contacts in Saudi Arabia. And with the change in the Saudi government, they believed, the Sharifs would be interested in seeing Sajid Mir to continue playing his “influential role” in the kingdom.

The sources said though the PML-N leadership was unhappy with party’s information secretary Mushahidullah Khan due to his refusal to head the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), his chances of getting the ticket again were bright due to his loyalty and sacrifices for the party.

They, however, said the leadership was not comfortable with Syed Zafar Ali Shah due to some of his controversial “on-the-record and off-the-record statements” on governance issues and the government’s recent decision to set up military courts.

The sources said Prime Minister’s advisers Sartaj Aziz, Irfan Siddiqui, Barrister Zafarullah, Khawaja Zaheer and Chairman Board of Investment Mohammad Zubair were considered to be the strong candidates for the Senate elections. Another name which is in the air for the senatorship is that of Sheikh Ansar Mehmood, a builder and a businessman who is considered to be a close friend of the prime minister.

Since Barrister Zafarullah had recently served as the federal law secretary, the sources said, his candidature might be challenged on legal and technical grounds.

PML-N’s secretary general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra is also a strong contender for the Senate ticket. However, keeping in view the party position in KP, the PML-N is expected to get only one seat from the province. And his ticket, they said, could be in danger if the party leadership opted for Sartaj Aziz or Engineer Amir Muqam for the senatorship.

However, most of the party leaders believed that Mr Jhagra deserved to be given the party ticket keeping in view his services and sacrifices for the party.

During the last Senate elections, the PML-N’s Punjab board had approved the names of Ishaq Dar, Rafiq Rajwana, M. Hamza, Ghulam Dastagir Khan, Mohammad Mehdi, Siddiqul Farooque, Saeed Mehdi and Haroon Akhtar Khan.

Since Saeed Mehdi has become the head of the SNGPL and the three others are already sitting in the Senate, Siddiqul Farooque and Mohammad Mehdi are the two PML-N members who are once again in the race for the tickets.

Similarly, the names of former senators Tariq Azim and Enver Baig, who had joined the party after quitting the PML-Q and the PPP, are also circulating in some ranks.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2015

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