BAHAWALPUR, Dec 11: Only one candidate filed nomination papers on Wednesday for the by-election on NA-187 (Bahawalpur-V).

Rozina Jamil Akhtar Sidhu had contested on a PML-QA ticket for PP-276 (Bahawalpur-X) in the Oct 10 elections, but was defeated by PPP’s Dr Mohammad Afzal. Now, she has again applied for a PML-QA ticket to contest the National Assembly seat vacated by PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan.

Meanwhile, Returning Officer Mohammad Afzal Javed’s office issued nomination forms to nine aspirants. So far, no political party has nominated its candidate for the NA seat.

All the aspirants are camping in Lahore, where the PPP, the PML-QA and the PML-N are holding marathon meetings to decide on their respective candidates.

The prominent aspirants are Syed Tasneem Nawaz Gardezi, Tahir Cheema who is a brother of district Nazim Tariq Cheema, PPP’s Aftab Shaban Mirani, PML-QA’s Chaudhry Azhar Mahmood and PML-N’s Khalid Jajja. Mr Azhar and Mr Jajja were among the defeated candidates for NA-187 on Oct 10.