September 06, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 05, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 5: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claims it has support of 220 Punjab Assembly members, including nine from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), for its presidential candidate Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui (retired).

A member of the Punjab cabinet, who requested not to be named, told Dawn after a meeting of the party and its ally MPAs here on Friday that at least 211 lawmakers were present at the meeting and nine others, who could not turn up due to one reason or the other, sent messages that they would join later.

The minister claimed that three of the 11 PPP MPAs even called on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif over the last couple of days.

The PPP, so far part of the provincial ruling coalition, has stopped its members, including ministers, from visiting Chief Minister’s Secretariat and told them to sit at Governor’s House instead.

Answering a question, the minister said a clear dent had been made in the PPP though it might get votes equal to its strength, 108, in the house by securing support of some PML-Q members. He claimed four more PML-Q members Saba Sadiq, Shahid Khalil Noor, Nasim Lodhi and Majida Zaidi joined the forward bloc and attended the parliamentary meeting. The earlier strength of the bloc was claimed to be 36.

He said five more PML-Q members had promised to vote for Mr Siddiqui though they did not join the forward bloc.

Answering a question about the strategy the PML-N had adopted to ensure 100 per cent voting by its supporters, the minister said each voter of the party would appear before a committee before casting his vote. The purpose of the step, he said, was to follow the voters who would not reach the polling station, the Punjab Assembly, well in time. — Amjad Mahmood