• Says no room for IPP candidates ‘who joined after May 9 riots’
• Asks Tareen’s party to cut short its ‘ambitious list’ of aspirants

LAHORE: As the deadline for nominating party candidates approaches, the PML-N leadership on Friday tried to resist pressure and conveyed to the Istehkam-i-Pakistan that it might not consider adjusting seats in favour of those IPP candidates who joined it after the May 9 violent protests, officials said.

The IPP, led by sugar tycoon Jahangir Khan Tareen, has been pushing the PML-N for a significant number of seats in Punjab, causing friction between the two parties.

The PML-N also fears that most of its candidates, if sacrificed in the seat-adjustment deal with the IPP, might contest independently as they have their own vote bank in the respective constituencies.

PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif chaired the 16th parliamentary board meeting on Friday but could not finalise the ticket distribution, reportedly because the party first had to sort out the IPP “dilemma”.

“The talks between the PML-N and IPP are still underway,” PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal told Dawn on Friday.

Asked about the sticking points, especially the PML-N’s reluctance to oblige those joining the IPP after the May 9 incidents, Mr Iqbal said: “We have not finished our interviews yet and the Lahore division is pending.”

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, former National Assembly speaker, is leading the seat-adjustment talks with the IPP, Mr Iqbal said.

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A source privy to the talks between the two parties said the PML-N told the IPP to cut short its “long, ambitious list” of candidates aspiring to contest in Punjab with PML-N’s support.

“There has been no obligation on the PML-N for those IPP leaders who joined it after the May 9 events. However, we may consider those with whom the PML-N leadership promised to give tickets in return for their support to oust former premier Imran Khan (through a no-confidence motion last year),” he said.

He said the PML-N leadership also conveyed to the IPP that it had obliged 25 of its former lawmakers by giving tickets in the July 2022 by-polls. “Not all of them can be obliged again,” he said.

The PML-N has already hinted that it was holding seat-adjustment talks “on the pressure of the powers that be”.

“The PML-N leadership is interested in doling out only a ‘handful’ of seats to the IPP. However, it cannot dictate the dynamics of the local politics in the drawing room,” a senior PML-N leader from Punjab told Dawn.

“If you ask me, there are slim chances of a seat-adjustment agreement between the PML-N and IPP,” he said.

In fact, the PML-N was not in a position to oblige IPP patron-in-chief Jahangir Tareen and president Aleem Khan for their seats in Lodhran and Lahore, where PML-N had strong winning candidates, the leader said.

IPP’s information secretary, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, recently claimed that the party had sought 40 National and 70 provincial assembly seats from the Sharif brothers.

Ms Awan did not respond on Friday to Dawn’s request for comment regarding the PML-N’s reluctance to oblige the IPP’s demand for a sizeable number of seats.

Besides, the PML-Q of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain has sought 14 seats from the PML-N. “The PML-N has told the PML-Q that it is ready to give a maximum of three seats,” the source said.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2023