ISLAMABAD: The ruling PML-N announced on Thursday that it would contest by-elections on National Assembly seats in Lahore and Lodhran, calling upon Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen to contest the polls themselves instead of fielding other candidates.

The PML-N hinted at also going into re-polling in NA-125 Lahore, where Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafiq was deseated by an election tribunal in May, but said the decision on the matter had been put off because he was on a foreign visit.

Saad Rafiq had already obtained a stay order from the Supreme Court against the tribunal’s decision.

“We have decided to go to people’s court in the two constituencies – NA-122 (Sardar Ayaz Sadiq) and NA-154 (Siddique Baloch) – and will not let the PTI run away from the by-elections,” Information Minister Pervez Rashid told reporters on the decision taken at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

On the other hand, Imran Khan has convened a meeting of the PTI leaders in Lahore on Saturday to chalk out a strategy after the PML-N decision.

In a TV talk show, Imran Khan challenged Nawaz Sharif to contests by -polls against him from NA-122.

Talking to Dawn, PTI leader Asad Umar said the party had a principled position that it would not leave the field open for its rivals in the elections, but added that the matter would be discussed at the Lahore meeting.

Sources said the PTI was divided over the issue of taking part in the re-polls as a significant number of its leaders opposed the idea, terming it a “trap”. They are of the opinion that whatever the outcome of the results, the spin put on PTI’s participation would be that it had finally accepted the elections under those very ECP members whose resignations it had been seeking.

Prime Minister Sharif was in Kazakhstan on an official visit when the election tribunal in NA-154 had de-seated PML-N MNA Siddique Baloch on Wednesday on the petition of PTI’s Jahangir Tareen.

The tribunal not only ordered re-polling in the constituency but also disqualified Mr Baloch for life for allegedly possessing fake academic degrees.

It was the third deseating in a row which forced the ruling party to reconsider its earlier decision of filing appeals against the tribunals’ judgments in the Supreme Court.

Accompanied by Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal, the information minister told reporters that the PML-N had also decided to file an appeal in the apex court against the deseating of Ayaz Sadiq and Siddique Baloch, but only to “keep the record straight”.

“We will go to the Supreme Court for the sake of correction of the record, but we will not seek any stay against the tribunals’ orders,” he added. He said that since Mr Sadiq’s lawyer Khawaja Haris was at present out of the country, he would move the Supreme Court after returning home on Sept 7.

Mr Rashid alleged that Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen were now running away from the elections. “If you believe in truth then come and face the people’s court,” the minister said.

He said it appeared that by demanding the resignation of ECP members the PTI was looking for an excuse to run away from the polls. He reminded Imran Khan that it was the same Election Commission under which the PTI had contested the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and by-election on a National Assembly seat in Haripur.

He challenged Imran Khan, who had contested the election from NA-122 and presently represents NA-56 Rawalpindi, to himself face Mr Sadiq.

“You (Imran Khan) cannot face people and elections. You can only hatch conspiracies. You only mislead the people and spread anarchy in the country,” the information minister said.

“The PML-N has defeated the PTI in all by-elections held after the Dharna (sit-in), including the one held in Haripur, and it would defeat the PTI in the coming by-elections as well,” he said. “The PML-N will secure bigger victory in these two constituencies than it secured in the 2013 elections.”

Mr Rashid said the party had decided that former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq would contest the by-poll in NA-122, whereas a decision on NA-154 seat depended on the outcome of the legal course since the tribunal had disqualified Mr Baloch, who had contested the election against Jahangir Tareen as an independent candidate.

The PTI’s electoral history showed that it either boycotted the elections or faced defeats, the minister said. He said the PTI had managed to win only one seat in 2002 elections, although the leaders of two major parties – Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto – were in exile and the field was wide open for it.

He said former president Gen Pervez Musharraf had himself admitted that he had given the Mianwali seat to Imran Khan.

And when Nawaz Sharif returned to the country, he recalled, Imran Khan had boycotted the 2008 elections. “This time we will not let Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen run away. You have wasted two years of the nation through sit-in,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal said Imran Khan was once again threatening to hold sit-ins because he wanted to spoil the present congenial atmosphere in the country.

The meeting, held at the Prime Minister House, was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Raja Zafarul Haq, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Hamza Shahbaz, Chaudhry Tanveer, Rana Sanaullah, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Abdul Qadir Baloch and Abid Sher Ali.

SPEAKER OFFICE: The meeting also discussed legal and constitutional aspects thrown up by the speaker’s vacant office. Talking to Dawn, PML-N Chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said there was no constitutional violation if the office was kept vacant for some time, but under the National Assembly rules, the party was required to get the new speaker elected in the first session of the assembly after the seat fell vacant.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2015

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