LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has at last finalised around 80 per cent of its National Assembly candidates for 112 out of the total 141 NA seats in Punjab.

Similarly, the party’s parliamentary board has made a decision about 65pc of Punjab Assembly seats by selecting 192 candidates for the 297-member house.

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Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz is set to contest her first election from Lahore’s NA-125 constituency (Lahore-III) against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Dr Yasmin Rashid, who had contested her first election against Nawaz Sharif in the 2013 general elections and later a by-election against Begum Kulsoom Nawaz.

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Earlier, there was speculation that Ms Maryam may contest from NA-127 (Lahore-V) relieving Pervaiz Malik but finally the parliamentary board fielded her from NA-125 and Mr Malik from NA-127.

The PML-N parliamentary board has for the time not taken a decision of awarding a ticket to any candidate from NA-59 and NA-63 where the party’s estranged leader and former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is in the run as an independent candidate.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said this was the first list of candidates who have been selected for the award of a party ticket. The selected candidates’ list for the remaining constituencies will be issued in a day or two.

PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif has chosen to contest election from three National Assembly constituencies — NA-124 (Lahore-II), NA-132 (Lahore-X) and NA-192 (Dera Ghazi Khan-IV). Similarly, he will be in the run from three Punjab Assembly constituencies — PP-146 (Lahore-III), PP-164 (Lahore-XXI) and PP-165 (Lahore-XXII).

Former provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah is contesting from NA-106 (Faisalabad-VI) as well as from Punjab Assembly constituency PP-113 (Faisalabad-XVII).

As many as 29 National Assembly seats from Punjab are still open for the selection of candidates. They are: NA-59 and NA-63 in Rawalpindi, NA-64 and NA-65 (Chakwal), NA-66 (Jehlum), NA-90 and NA-92 (Sargodha), NA-93 and NA-94 (Khushab), NA-98 (Bhakkar), NA-101 and NA-109 (Faisalabad), NA-114 and NA-116 (Jhang), NA-145 (Pakpattan), NA-154 and NA-161 (Multan), NA-162 (Vehari), NA-166, NA-168 and NA-169 (Bahawalnagar), NA-174 (Bahawalpur), NA-175, NA-176, NA-177 and NA-178 (Rahim Yar Khan), NA-183 and NA-185 (Muzaffargarh) and NA-189 (Dera Ghazi Khan).

The PML-N’s selected candidates for the 112 seats are: Sheikh Aftab Ahmed (NA-55), Malik Sohail Khan (NA-56), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (NA-57), Raja Muha­mmad Javed Ikhlas (NA-58), Hanif Abbasi (NA-60), Malik Ibrar Ahmed (NA-61), Daniyal Chaudhry (NA-62), Raja Matloob Mehdi (NA-67), Nawabzada Ghaz­anfar Ali (NA-68), Chau­dhry Mubashir Hussain (NA-69), Jaffar Iqbal (NA-70), Chaudhry Abid Raza (NA-71), Chaudhry Armu­ghan Subhani (NA-72), Khawaja Muhammad Asif (NA-73), Ali Zahid (NA-74), Syed Iftikhar Ul Hassan (NA-75), Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan (NA-76), Dan­iyal Aziz Chaudhry (NA-77), Ahsan Iqbal (NA-78), Dr Nisar Cheema (NA-79), Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk (NA-80), Khurram Dastagir Khan (NA-81), Usman Ibrahim (NA-82), Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ali Bhinder (NA-83), Azhar Qayum Nahra (NA-84), Chaudhary Mushahid Raza (NA-85), Nasir Iqbal Bosal (NA-86), Saira Afzal Tarar (NA-87), Dr Mukhtar Ahmed Bharat (NA-88), Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha (NA-89), Dr Zulfiqar Bhatti (NA-91), Haji Obaidullah Khan Shadi Khel (NA-95), Muhammad Humair Hayat Khan Rokri (NA-96), Abdul Majeed Khan (NA-97), Rehan Qaiser (NA-99), Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh (NA-100), Talal Badar Chaudhry (NA-102), Ali Ghohar Khan (NA-103), Muhammad Shahbaz Babar (NA-104), Mian Muhammad Farooq (NA-105), Rana Sanaullah Khan (NA-106), Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari (NA-107), Abid Sher Ali (NA-108), Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan (NA-110), Khalid Javed Warraich (NA-111), Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry (NA-112), Asad-ur-Rehman (NA-113), Sheikh Waqas Akram (NA-115), Khalid Mehmood Sarganah (NA-116), Muhammad Barjees Tahir (NA-117), Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharal (NA-118), Rana Afzaal Hussain (NA-119), Rana Tanveer Hussain (NA-120), Mian Javed Latif (NA-121), Sardar Irfan Dogar (NA-122), Muhammad Riaz Malik (NA-123), Hamza Shahbaz Sharif (NA-124), Maryam Nawaz Sahrif (NA-125), Mehr Ishtiaq Ahmed Anwar (NA-126), Muhammad Pervaiz Malik (NA-127), Sheikh Rohil Asghar (NA-128), Sardar Ayaz Sadiq (NA-129), Khawaja Ahmed Hassan (NA-130), Khawaja Saad Rafiq (NA-131), Shahbaz Sharif (NA-132), Waheed Alam Khan (NA-133), Rana Mubashir Iqbal (NA-134), Malik Saif ul Mulook Khokhar (NA-135), Muhammad Afzal Khokhar (NA-136), Waseem Sheikh (NA-137), Malik Rasheed Ahmed Khan (NA-138), Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan (NA-139), Rana Hayat Khan (NA-140), Nadeem Abbas Rabera (NA-141), Riaz Ul Haq Jajj (NA-142), Rao Ajmal Khan (NA-143), Mian Moeen Wattoo (NA-144), Rana Zahid Hussain Khan (NA-146), Syed Imran Ahmed Shah (NA-147), Chaudhry Muhammad Ashraf (NA-148), Muhammad Tufail (NA-149), retd Admiral Saeed Ahmed Sargana (NA-150), Muhammad Khan Daha (NA-151), Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla (NA-152), Chaudhry Iftikhar Nazir (NA-153), Sheikh M. Tariq Rasheed (NA-155), Amir Saeed Ansari (NA-156), Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar (NA-157), Syed Javed Ali Shah (NA-158), Dewan M. Zulqarnain Bukhari (NA-159), Abdul Rehman Kanju (NA-160), Sajid Mehdi (NA-163), Begum Tehmina Daultana (NA-164), Saeed Ahmed Khan Manais (NA-165), Alam Dad Lalika (NA-167), Muhammad Baligh Ur Rehman (NA-170), Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada (NA-171), Chaudhary Saud Majeed (NA-172), Mian Najeeb Uddin Awaisi (NA-173), Mian Imtiaz Ahmed (NA-179), Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari (NA-180), Sultan Mehmood Hanjra (NA-181), Qasim Hanjra (NA-182), Haroon Bukhari (NA-184), Sahibzada Faiz Ul Hassan (NA-187), Saqlain Bukhari (NA-188), Amjad Farooq Khosa (NA-190), Awais Khan Leghari (NA-191), Shahbaz Sharif (NA-192), Sher Ali Gorchani (NA-193), Dr Hafeez Dareshak (NA-194) and Khizer Husain Mazari (NA-195).

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2018