ISLAMABAD, Nov 14: The lobby of Parliament Lodges presented the scene of a fish market when balloting was held for allotment of suites to the MNAs-elect on Thursday.

The allotments were made according to room-number slips the parliamentarians picked from a ballot box. They started pushing one another when the box was put before them. Some verbal clashes were also reported on the occasion.

After the balloting, the newly-elected representatives and their aides struggled hard to get the keys to their allotted apartments from the CDA staff.

Some of them criticized the authority for adopting the old method of balloting instead of using computer for the purpose.

When contacted, Parliament Lodges director Suleman Sahito said the process of allotment continued till late night. He was, therefore, reluctant to give exact number of the MNAs-elect who acquired suits on the first day.

He said E and F blocks of the lodges had been allocated for women parliamentarians. The process of allotment, he added, would continue for two or three days as some of the parliamentarians had not approached the CDA on the first day of allotment.

A source told Dawn that some former parliamentarians and their relatives, who have been elected in the October polls, pressurized the authority to allot them the lodges they had in the past.

“Some of them are demanding the lodges from where they can view the western side of the capital, while others want suites offering view of the southern side,” the CDA official said.

He said, in view of such demands, the authority decided to allot lodges through balloting.

A total of 320 lodges are being allotted, out of which about 100 have been completed recently.