ISLAMABAD, July 7: As many as six candidates belonging to the ARD and one candidate of the MMA will submit their nomination papers for the by-election to the National Assembly's seat in Attock against Shaukat Aziz on Thursday , the last day for submission of nomination papers, sources told Dawn.

The sources said both the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N had asked their respective candidates to submit their nomination papers after the two parties failed to agree on a joint candidate in a two-day marathon meeting of the ARD in Lahore.

They said it had been decided that all potential candidates of the PPP and the PML-N would be asked to submit their papers and the name of the final candidate would be announced after another meeting of the alliance in Islamabad on July 10, which is the last date for withdrawal of nomination papers.

Among the six ARD candidates who will submit their papers on Thursday, four belong to the PPP and two are associated with the PML-N. PPP secretary-general and MNA from Rawalpindi Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is also submitting his nomination papers for the by-polls for NA-59 Attock-III.

Other candidates are PPP Punjab information secretary Naveed Chaudhry, Ghulam Abbas and Dr Sikandar Hayat Khan. The two PML-N candidates are Sohail Malik and Sheikh Suleman Sarwar.

Talking to Dawn, PML-N information secretary Siddiqul Farooque said Sohail Malik was son of former party MNA from Attock Malik Lal Khan and Sheikh Suleman was the son of former adviser to prime minister Sheikh Aftab Ahmed.

When contacted, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of the PPP said that he would leave for Attock on Thursday morning to submit his nomination papers against Shaukat Aziz on the instructions of the party.

When asked whether he could contest the election as he was already an MNA, Mr Ashraf said that he was not aware of the legal position. On the other hand, ARD parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohvi, when contacted, said the sitting MNA could contest the election for another seat and there was no such bar in the constitution.

Meanwhile, the top leaders of the PPP and the PML-N again on Wednesday night contacted each other in an effort to bring about consensus on a joint candidate. A source told Dawn that Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Raza Rabbani of the PPP and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Tehmina Daultana, Raja Zafarul Haq and Ishaq Dar held informal talks and decided that the final announcement would be made on July 10.

On the other hand, the MMA has nominated former Punjab minister Qari Saeedur Rahman as its candidate against Shaukat Aziz in Attock by-polls. Talking to reporters at the Parliament House on Wednesday, MMA MNA Liaquat Baloch said that the alliance in its supreme council meeting had decided to field candidates against Mr Aziz in both the constituencies of Attock and Tharparkar.

He said Dr Mumtaz Ali Memon had been nominated as the MMA candidate in Tharparkar. Mr Baloch, however, said the MMA was ready to withdraw its candidate in favour of the ARD if it withdrew its candidate in Attock in favour of the religious alliance.