ISLAMABAD, Jan 18: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has not yet decided to contest the forthcoming Senate election, sources close to Ms Bhutto told Dawn on Wednesday.

The source said that Ms Bhutto was actively considering the option to contest the Senate election scheduled to be held in the first week of March, this year, on the recommendations of the members of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) and the Federal Council (FC).

He said though the CEC and the FC had not formally asked Ms Bhutto to contest the election, in a grand party meeting held in London on November 27, last year, a majority of the PPP leaders had suggested Ms Bhutto to come to Pakistan on the eve of the Senate election and also take part in it.

“Yes, the issue was discussed in detail in the London meeting,” said the senior PPP leader and parliamentarian on condition of anonymity. He said when the party leaders were discussing the time and venue for the possible return of Ms Bhutto to Pakistan, a majority of the party leaders suggested her to come to Pakistan in March to take part in the election.

The PPP leader said that Ms Bhutto did not reject the proposal outright and asked the members to give their views in writing so that she could analyse the political impact of any decision in this regard.

He said Ms Bhutto had sought written suggestions from only few senior party leaders and not from all those, who had attended the meeting. At that time, he said, Ms Bhutto had even said that she could contest the election from Sindh on any seat, including the reserved seats for women.

He said Ms Bhutto was in the US and still consulting the party leadership on the issue and it was expected that she would soon announce a decision in this regard. He said so far the party had not constituted any parliamentary board to select the candidates for the election. He said the situation would be cleared when Ms Bhutto would constitute the board and invite applications from the aspiring candidates.

When asked about the seriousness of Ms Bhutto in contesting the Senate election, he said she had not closed the option since November, which showed that she was seriously considering in this regard.

However, he said, there was a possibility that Ms Bhutto had made up her mind but did not want to disclose it to any person.

May be, he said, she wanted to keep this option open for the next few weeks or so only to gauge the immediate reaction of the government and other political forces in the country.