LAHORE, March 25: The central parliamentary board of the PML-N has been formed under the chair of party president Nawaz Sharif with a good representation of the leaders who remained loyal to the party during the Musharraf regime.

Secretary-general Iqbal Zafar Jhagra will act as secretary of the 36-member panel, which includes Senator Raja Zafarul Haq, Ishaq Dar, Chaudhry Nisar, Ahsan Iqbal, Mushahidullah Khan, Sardar Mehtab Abbasi, Mamnoon Husain, Tehmina Daultana, Najma Hameed, Dastghir Khan, Gen Abdul Qadir Baloch (retired), Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir, sources say.

All four provincial presidents – Shahbaz Sharif, Pir Sabir Shah, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri and Ghaus Ali Shah – will also be ex-officio members of the forum. New entrants like Mumtaz Bhutto, Ameer Muqam and Liaquat Jatoi have also been given representation.

PML-N workers believe that composition of the parliamentary board will help find out the best and honest candidates for the general election as promised by Sharif while presenting the party manifesto. The board is likely to start its deliberations from Wednesday (March 27).

Meanwhile, offices of various political parties here have become centres of attraction for potential candidates as the process of electoral manipulations and seat adjustments has set in with the issuance of election schedule.

Those who wish to contest from the platform of any political party have started visiting relevant party’s office and influencing its leadership. Offices of returning officers for 13 National and 25 Punjab Assembly constituencies in Lahore are also being thronged by the contenders along with their supporters for obtaining forms, as at least 14 forms were issued here on Monday.

Prominent among those for whom the papers were collected included former president Pervez Musharraf, PTI chairman Imran Khan, JUI-F president Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Awami Muslim League’s Sheikh Rashid.

Three former provincial ministers – Abdul Aleem Khan, Mujtaba Shuja and Mian Aslam Iqbal – and adviser to CM Khwaja Salman Rafiq also obtained the forms.

As per the collection of forms, Musharraf will contest the election from NA-127 and Maulana Fazl from NA-125.

The issuance (and submission) of nomination forms by the Election Commission started on March 24 (Sunday) and the process will continue until March 29, the last day for the purpose in the election schedule.

So far, 1,641 papers for National Assembly seats have been issued across the province and six of them have been filed. For the Punjab Assembly, 3,159 forms have been issued and three of them filed.