QUETTA: Senior PML-N leaders failed on Tuesday to persuade Balochistan Assembly Speaker Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali to withdraw his daughter in favour of party’s candidate on a seat reserved for women in the Senate elections.

Railways Minister Saad Rafique and Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan, along with provincial Senior Minister and President of the PML-N Balochistan chapter Sanaullah Zehri and Jangeez Marri, met Mr Jamali in the speaker’s chamber asked him to withdraw his daughter and support Mrs Perveen Kalsoom and other PML-N candidates.

Know more: Balochistan legislators violate party policies in Senate elections

But, Mr Jamali, who also belongs to the PML-N, refused to withdraw his daughter Mrs Sana Jamali from the contest. Mr Jamali told the PML-N leaders that the central leadership had awarded tickets without consulting the party’s provincial parliamentary board.

Saad Rafique and Jam Kamal offered no comment after the meeting.

But Mr Jamali told newsman that he had presented his point of view to the PML-N leaders and said he had already given his stand on the floor of the house. “My daughter will contest the election and will not withdraw,” he said.

Saad Rafique and Jam Kamal also met Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Chairman of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai and provincial PML-Q President Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and discussed the issue of Senate elections.

Sources said that National Party and PkMAP leaderships told the PML-N leaders that they would contest the Senate elections jointly and vote for candidates of their parties.

The sources said that Mr Achakzai, however, assured the PML-N leaders that his party would support the PML-N candidates in the election for chairman and deputy chairman of the Senate.

“The MPAs proposing independent candidates should face disciplinary action,” Mr Achakzai said after meeting the PML-N leaders. “Buying and purchasing of votes in the Senate elections is brining bad name to the democratic system,” he said, adding that all political parties should work for strengthening transparent democratic culture in the country.

Published in Dawn March 4th , 2015

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