LAHORE, Feb 5: Tariq Badruddin Bandey, a PML-Q candidate for NA-119 and PP-141 in the city, died of a cardiac arrest early on Tuesday. He was 52.

The election in his constituency is likely to be postponed, and a formal notification to the effect is expected on Wednesday (today).

Mr Bandey suffered a massive heart attack on Sunday and was taken to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology where he breathed his last on Tuesday morning.

The owner-chief editor of an Urdu-language newspaper that he launched last year, Mr Banday had been in politics since 1993 when he won on a national assembly seat from city (then NA-97) on a PML-N ticket. In 2002, he lost to MMA’s Liaquat Baloch.

With his death, the prospects of Sharif family’s representation in the next parliament have diminished, for the time being at least.

Hamza Shahbaz, the only scion of the family allowed to contest polls, would be unable to try his luck to make it to parliament on Feb 18 with election for his constituency getting deferred. The elder Sharifs have already been disqualified.

Hamza, contesting for NA-119, his family seat prior to redrawn constituency in 2002, is most likely to win whenever elections are held. But he will have to wait for by-election.

His chances of winning the election will be brighter now because by the time the by-polls are held his father and uncle will be free to campaign for him vigorously.

The Bandeys, also a sub-tribe of the Kashmiris, saw their political influence growing in the nineties under the Sharifs.

The late Bandey also launched an Urdu language paper to build his political influence and outgrew Sharifs political legacy.

The PML-Q may face difficulties in finding his replacement which could give the Sharifs run for their money.

BURIAL: Banday was laid to rest in the presence of a large number of people, including politicians.