LAHORE (Web Desk) – The PML-N is holding a meeting of its parliamentary board meeting on Saturday to select candidates for the upcoming elections scheduled for Feb 8 as Nawaz Sharif – the party’s supremo – eyes a record fourth term in office in his decades-long tumultuous political career.
It has selected Sargodha Division to start the process for awarding tickets as the aspirants for different constituencies of the region will plead their case before elder Sharif and other PML-N leaders comprising the parliamentary board.
Marriyum Aurangzeb – the PML-N spokesperson – in message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, said her party was first to form panels to formulate election manifesto and award tickets, adding that it would also be first to choose candidates for National Assembly seats.
پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن) کے قائد جناب محمد نواز شریف اور پارٹی صدر شہباز شریف صاحب کی زیر صدارت پارٹی پارلیمانی بورڈ کا پہلا اجلاس آج لاہور میں منعقد ہوگا جس میں قومی، صوبائی اور مخصوص نشستوں پر پارٹی ٹکٹ اور امیدواروں کا انتخاب کیا جائے گا۔ آج سرگودھا ڈویژن میں پارٹی ٹکٹ کے فیصلے…
— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) December 2, 2023Earlier on Friday, she had shared a timeline for completing the process as the schedule shows the dates on which the PML-N parliamentary board will meet to interview and decide the candidates at national and provincial levels.
Revised Schedule for few divisions https://t.co/CBHjIQlXyX pic.twitter.com/KOkgyu2QEr
— Marriyum Aurangzeb (@Marriyum_A) December 1, 2023The process has always been a great test for any party, but particularly a large one like the PML-N, as the decision usually upsets some of the applicants – thus again showing that the electoral politics is both a science and art, involving a strategy for satisfying different groups at national, regional and local levels.
Moreover, Nawaz’s return to Pakistan has increased the number of individuals applying for the PML-N ticket given the fact that many already believe that he would be the fourth-time prime minister despite the existing disqualification.
However, his acquittal in the Avenfield reference has further boosted the confidence that the same would be repeated in the Al-Azizia reference.
But it isn’t necessary that the board meeting chaired by Nawaz and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif will be able to finalise and announce all the names from Sargodha today, as the intense lobbying in some cases makes decision-making difficult given the stakes involved in such a process.