LAHORE, Sept 18: The Punjab PPP has decided to field candidates in the by-polls for union council Nazims and councillors to be held next month.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Punjab executive committee and Punjab council members as well as presidents of the party’s district and city units in Sargodha, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Multan here on Thursday.

Briefing newsmen, provincial information secretary Naveed Chaudhry said the meeting discussed party performance in the recently held by-polls for district and tehsil Nazims and councillors and decided that in future PPP’s own candidates would be preferred in all by-polls.

The meeting observed that merger of various PML factions would not lower the popularity of the PPP and the PML-N and termed the step an attempt on the part of the government to divert attention of the masses from real issues.

He said the party would support any movement against the government to be launched from the platform of the ARD.