PML-Q decides against seat adjustment with PML-N over ‘double standards’

Published January 12, 2024
This December 6, 2023 file photo, shows PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. — DawnNewsTV
This December 6, 2023 file photo, shows PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. — DawnNewsTV

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) said on Friday that it had decided against opting for seat adjustment with the PML-N for the February 8 general election over “double standards”.

The development comes a day after it emerged that PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who had helped the PML-N-led coalition in ousting ex-premier Imran Khan in 2022, was accommodated by the PML-N with just four seats, two each for the National and Punjab assemblies.

The PML-N left NA-64 and PP-31 Gujrat open for Salik and Shafey, sons of Shujaat Hussain. It had also refused to oblige PML-Q’s Wajahat Hussain and his son Musa Elahi on National Assembly seats in Gujrat.

The Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), home for PTI deserters, also faced a setback as the PML-N allocated them only a limited number of seats for the next month’s general elections.

An official statement released by the PML-Q today, said that Shujaat had chaired an emergency meeting.

“The PML-Q has always played a role in the development and prosperity of Pakistan and its people and will continue to do so,” the party said. It alleged that the PML-N had issued tickets to candidates competing against PML-Q’s candidates.

It said that as a result, the party had decided that it would not allow its candidates to fall victim to such “double standards” and will not “go for seat adjustment with the PML-N”.

The statement quoted Shujaat’s son Salik as saying that the PML-N should issue tickets to its candidates from Gujrat — which is considered a PML-Q stronghold — against him and his brother.

He asserted that the PML-Q’s candidates stood with the party, adding that the party would stand with them if the PML-N chose to compete against them.

“We are ready to compete without any seat adjustment,” he said.

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