ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: The Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-i-Azam) has been successful than the People’s Party Parliamentarian and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal in wooing 18 out of the 29 newly-elected independent members of the National Assembly.

The party position was significantly improved by the joining of the 18 independent members as its tally reached at 95, PML(Q) information secretary Azeem Chaudhry told Dawn.

The PPP managed to convince only one independent member of the National Assembly from Punjab to join it, whereas the MMA was a bit ahead in with one each from the provinces of Punjab and NWFP.

Shiekh Rashid Ahmed, who had won two National Assembly seats from Rawalpindi, decided to maintain his independent candidature.

The election commission of Pakistan under an ordinance had set October 24 as the last date for the independents to decide their political future by either formally joining any political party or remain independent for the rest of the term in the National Assembly.

Majority of the independents, who returned to the provincial assembly, in Punjab also joined the PML(Q). In Sindh too it managed to woo several candidates.

The PPP was joined by only two MPAs-elect in Sindh Assembly.