ISLAMABAD, July 7: As the deadline for the filing of nomination papers for by-election approached, confusion persisted over the naming of a candidate by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) for NA-48 Islamabad.

The seat was vacated by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Javed Hashmi who retained his hometown constituency of Multan.

The PTI has already announced its candidate for the by-election.

Over 10 aspirants are in the race for the PML-N ticket. Some of them are: former MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan, Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Sajjad Afzal Cheema and Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf Gujjar.

Afzal Cheema and Ashraf Gujjar are former presidents of the Islamabad High Court Bar (IHC) Association while Senator Shah is a senior member of the IHC bar and also remained the president of Lahore High Court Rawalpindi division bar association.

In the 2008 elections, Anjum Aqeel won the seat on the ticket of the PML-N by bagging 61,480 votes. In 2011, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) nominated him as the main accused in a Rs6 billion land fraud case which is still pending adjudication in the special court of Islamabad.

The Supreme Court took a suo motu notice of the case in 2011 and remanded the matter to the FIA special court.

Senator Zafar Ali Shah, a constitutional expert, is the chairman of Senate committee on national health services and coordination. He is also a former MNA and MPA of the PML-N.

Sajjad Afzal Cheema is the son of retired Supreme Court judge Afzal Cheema.

He has been in the PML-N since 1985 when he was elected an MPA from Gojra. His cousin Justice (retired) Iftikhar Cheema is a sitting MNA.

Ashraf Gujjar joined the PML-N last year after a brief meeting with Nawaz Sharif when the latter visited the IHC bar after attending the proceedings of the memo commission.

Besides the backing of 16 sitting MNAs belonging to the Gujjar clan, Mr Ashraf claimed to have support of trade unions, professional bodies and over 20,000 Gujjar voters in the constituency of NA-48.

Riasat Ali Azad, a former secretary of the Islamabad bar, welcomed the submission of nomination papers by senior members of the bar but warned that the PML-N would get tough time in the by-election compared to the May 11 general elections.

He said the ruling party’s performance during the last one month was not very encouraging as power outages had not been controlled and the budget also disappointed the citizens, especially the middle class.

According to him, NA-48 comprised a large number of middle class families who already have rejected the PML-N in the May 11 elections.

“The by-elections would be a test case for the PML-N to know its post-poll performance,” he added.

PML-N spokesman Mushahidullah Khan, when contacted, told Dawn that the party would announce its candidate for NA-48 next week.

He said a parliamentary board for the selection of the candidates had already been constituted and it would hold a meeting on July 10 and announce the candidate for NA-48.

He said the PML-N was facing challenges and its performance could not be gauged in the by-elections.

One of the aspirants for the PML-N ticket on the condition of anonymity told Dawn that the award of ticket was delayed because of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China. He said the parliamentary board would recommend the name but the final decision would be taken by Mr Sharif.

He, however, admitted that the PML-N candidate would face the consequences of the power outages and increase in the prices of petrol, electricity and other commodities. He, however, added that because the PML-N was in power, neutral voters would support the ruling party candidate.

It may be mentioned that Asad Umer has already obtained nomination papers as a PTI candidate.

Besides, Mian Mohammad Aslam of Jamaat-i-Islami and Faisal Sakhi Butt of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) are also in the field.

There are 282,850 registered voters in NA-48 — 150,343 males and 132,507 females.

On May 11, Mr Hashmi secured 73,878 votes while Anjum Aqeel of the PML-N remained the runner-up with 52,205 votes followed by Mian Aslam 25,010 and Faisal Sakhi Butt 9,177 votes.