February 3, 2006	Friday	Muharram 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 2: Several big guns in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are anxiously waiting for a decision by party chairperson Benazir Bhutto regarding the award of tickets for the forthcoming Senate elections, sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

The sources said that these party leaders, including some veteran politicians, former ministers and formidable leaders, were waiting for the constitution of the parliamentary board to formally apply for the ticket. The parliamentary board is yet to be constituted by Ms Bhutto.

As the date for submission of nomination papers for the Senate seats is drawing closer, some of the party leaders have started believing that Ms Bhutto may not constitute the parliamentary board and allow the losers of Senate seats in the January 2 draw to contest again.

The PPP lost seven out of 11 senate seats. The PPP senators who will retire on March 11 are Farhatullah Babar (technocrat seat) from the NWFP, Sajjad Bokhari (general) and Dr Akbar Khwaja (technocrat) from Punjab and Raza Rabbani, Dr Safdar Abbasi, Abdul Latif Ansari and Dr Abdullah Riar (all on general seats) from Sindh.

The sources said that all the seven PPP senators who had lost their seats in the draw were again willing to contest the election, scheduled to be held on March 6. They said that Dr Abdullah Riar and Dr Akbar Khawaja had already left for the US to meet Ms Bhutto.

In Punjab, the sources said, Sajjad Bokhari had also started lobbying for the ticket. Besides Mr Bokhari, the sources said, recently-appointed finance secretary of the PPP Dr Babar Awan was also active to get the party’s nod for the Senate polls. He can contest the election on both the general as well as technocrat seat.

According to the sources, former information minister Khalid Kharal, former MNA and a member of the party’s Central Executive Committee Nawabzada Ghazanfar Gul, former Punjab district president Mushtaq Paganwala, former MNA and ex-Nazim Nazar Mohammad Gondal and party’s deputy information secretary Altaf Qureshi are other prominent probable candidates for the Senate tickets from Punjab.

The sources said that PPP general secretary Jahangir Badar was also a strong candidate, but it seemed that he was not very much interested in contesting the election.

In Sindh, the choice is very difficult for the party leadership as several important party leaders had expressed their desire to become senator on the PPP ticket. The sources said that it was almost certain that Raza Rabbani and Dr Safdar Abbasi would again get the party tickets. However, they claimed, the chances of Abdul Latif Ansari to get the party ticket again were very slim.

The sources said that party’s provincial secretary general Nafees Ahmed Siddiqi, central information secretary Taj Haider, Karachi PPP president Rashid Rabbani and former minister ND Khan were among those prominent personalities who had expressed their desire to contest the Senate elections.

Similarly, the sources said that Nafeesa Shah, the daughter of Sindh PPP president Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and Maleeha Soomro, the sister of the Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro, were also vying for the Senate seats. They said that the PPP did not have any possibility to win any of the two reserved women seats, which would fall vacant after retirement of the MQM’s Abida Saif and Nighat Mirza.

The PPP is also facing a difficult situation in the NWFP. Earlier, the party had only one senator Farhatullah Babar and that too on the technocrat seat. However, this time, it is almost impossible for the party to regain the technocrat seat due to increase in the required number of votes.

The sources said the party leadership was consulting other parties, including the Awami National Party and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, so that Mr Babar could be adjusted against a general seat. Though, the sources said, the party leadership had almost finalized the name of Farhatullah Babar for the party candidate from the NWFP, there were still others who had expressed their desire to contest the election on the PPP ticket.

Former PPP ticket-holders in the last Senate poll Sardar Ali and Qamar Abbas, the sources said, were also among the aspirants. A senior PPP leader said that former interior minister Nasirullah Babar had also told his close friends that he would not apply for the Senate ticket, but would like to contest the election if nominated by the party.

The PPP is not planning to field any of its candidate in Balochistan, the sources said.