ISLAMABAD: Well before the announcement of results for the local government (LG) elections, the PML-N and PTI have started wooing independent chairmen-elect to secure a majority in the mayor’s elections.

In the LG elections, held on November 30, 19 of PML-N’s candidates were elected as chairmen, followed by 17 of PTI and 13 were independents.

PTI’s central secretary public relations, Zahid Kazmi, told Dawn a delegation from the party, including Asad Umar, Chaudhry Ilyas Meherban, Raja Khurram and others, are meeting with independent candidates and are also negotiating with groups, including the Khokhars.

After the end of the PPP government and then a defeat in the general elections of 2013, this is the first time the Khokhars are coming forward in politics and have claimed their independent group will play an important role in the upcoming elections for Islamabad’s mayor.

However, PML-N’s former MNA, Anjum Aqeel Khan, denied that the party had contacted the Khokhars and said: “We have sufficient numbers to win the mayor’s elections”.

According to the PML-N leader, most of the independent candidates who won the elections did so with backing from the ruling party and said these candidates would now support the party in the upcoming elections.

He did, however, say that: “The Khokhars may be contacted if needed”.

Deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Haji Nawaz Khokhar said he was not aware of any one-on-one meetings between his brother and the ruling party’s leadership. He did, however, confirm that the PML-N’s local leadership had contacted them and were negotiating support in the mayor’s elections.

“We are demanding deputy mayors’ seats,” he said, adding that PTI needs nine while PML-N needs seven votes to win the mayor’s seat.

He said the government had put his brother, Taji Khokhar, behind bars due to political reasons. However, he added, they were willing to negotiate with the PML-N because “politics demands that the doors should remain open”.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2015