RAWALPINDI: The ruling PML-N is likely to award tickets for city mayors and district council chairmen in major cities of Punjab, including Rawalpindi, on Monday.

A senior party leader told Dawn that a meeting of the PML-N centre and Punjab chapters would be held at the Prime Minister Secretariat to finalise the names on Monday.

However, he said, the names of the candidates would be announced a day before the elections scheduled to be held on Dec 22.

Nawaz Sharif will finalise names of the candidates after consulting Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar

“The list of candidates from the Rawalpindi division has been forwarded to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who will consult Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan before finalising the names,” he said.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued the schedule for the elections of the district council chairmen, vice chairmen, mayors and deputy mayors.

The nomination papers will be submitted to the returning officers on December 9 and 10 while the scrutiny of papers will be held on December 11 and 12. The last day for withdrawing candidatures is December 15.

The party symbols will be awarded on December 16 and the polling will be held on December 22.

At present, there are three PML-N candidates for the slot of Rawalpindi mayor and over a dozen for the district council chairman.

“Internal politics in Rawalpindi chapter of the party forced the leadership to send the list of candidates to PML-N President Nawaz Sharif. Chaudhry Nisar has already shortlisted the candidates and will recommend the names at the meeting,” a senior PML-N leader told Dawn.

He said the party leadership had also got a report about the reputation of the candidates from the Special Branch of the police besides asking the senior party leaders to give their recommendations.

He said the party wanted to bring clean personalities to the front. When asked to elaborate, he said persons who remained loyal to the party in the last two decades, especially during the tenure of Pervez Musharraf, would be preferred.

He said the selection of the local government top slots was necessary for the next general elections as after the end of the tenure of federal and provincial governments in 2018, the local governments would help the PML-N candidates run their election campaigns.

He said there were resentments in the party circles about the delay in finalising the candidates, adding with an absolute majority in

the municipal corporations and the district councils, there was no justification for the PML-N to put the announcement of the names on hold.

When contacted, PML-N city general secretary and former MNA Haji Pervaiz Khan said the party would take a decision about the tickets in a day or two.

“The party leadership will meet at the Prime Minister Secretariat and the list of candidates has already reached there.”

He said for the slot of Rawalpindi mayor, Sardar Naseem was the strongest candidate because of his loyalty to the leadership as well as commitment to the party.

“Sardar Naseem will get the party ticket soon,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2016