June 29, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1423

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BAHAWALPUR, June 28: Tehsil Nazim Syed Najibuddin Owaisi and Naib Nazim Syed Mueed Bokhari will be the PNL(N) candidates for the national and provincial assemblies seats.

A PML(N) press release issued here on Friday said the names were announced after more than five days’ hectic deliberations of local leaders headed by former MNA and district president Nawab Salahuddin Abbasi.

The candidates for the National Assembly are: former Punjab parliamentary secretary Samiullah Chaudhry and tehsil Nazim Syed Najibuddin Owaisi (Bahawalpur), former MNA and Bahawalpur district president Chaudhry Mumtaz Ahmad Jajja (Yazman), and former MNA Mian Aqeelur Rahman (Hasilpur).

The Nawab has also been offered a PML ticket from his home constituency of Dera Nawab Sahib in Ahmadpur East tehsil. It said even if he did not apply for a party ticket, the PML would not field its candidate in the Nawab’s constituency to provide him electoral assistance and support.

As regards the prospective candidates for the 10 seats of Punjab Assembly from Bahawalpur district, the PML list includes several unfamiliar names. However, among them some prominent names are: Punjab women wing vice-president Begum Parveen Masood Bhatti, defunct Bahawalpur Municipal Corporation former mayor Shams Alvie, tehsil Naib Nazim Syed Mueed Bokhari and former MPA Chaudhry Abdul Rashid from Hasilpur.

Interestingly, some of the candidates do not hold a graduation degree, but they have been named in the hope that the Supreme Court might waive the condition on a petition ARD plans to submit before the court.