LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: In one of the most highly anticipated events in recent electoral history, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Dr Yasmin Rashid will vie for NA-120, the National Assembly seat from Lahore, on Sept 17.

Since the opposition in parliament has failed to pitch a joint candidate for the electoral contest, the Pakistan Peoples Party, too, is expected to field a candidate.

According to a press release issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday, the returning officer will issue a public notice inviting nominations on Aug 7, receive nominations from candidates between Aug 10 and 12, and scrutinise the nominations from Aug 15 to Aug 17.

The last date to file appeals challenging the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers in an election tribunal is Aug 21, after which complaints will be decided by Aug 24. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is Aug 25, after which the list of final candidates will be published on Aug 26. Polling will take place on Sept 17. The ECP has appointed Faisalabad Regional Election Commissioner Tahir Hassan as the district returning officer and Bahawalnagar District Election Commissioner Muhammad Shahid as the returning officer.

A senior ECP officer told Dawn that a notification for the appointment of a tribunal to hear appeals against the returning officer’s acceptance or rejection of nomination papers would be announced later. He said a code of conduct for the by-poll would also be issued in the next few days.

He clarified that the Punjab chief minister would not have to give up his provincial assembly seat in order to contest the election. The law permitted a member of one house to contest for a seat in another house while keeping their position, he said.

He said in a previous case, the Supreme Court had barred public office-holders, including the prime minister, chief ministers and members of their cabinet, from poll campaigning. However, they had apparently been barred from campaigning for their candidates. “This is a unique case and the ECP will keep all relevant facts in mind while framing a code of conduct,” he remarked.

He recalled that in Sept 2015, the Supreme Court had restored a code of conduct for NA-122 Lahore barring public office-holders from campaigning for their candidates when National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had been de-seated by an election tribunal.

A clause in the code of conduct barring public office-holders from taking part in election campaigns for their candidates was recently struck down by the Lahore High Court (LHC), on a petition filed by a PTI leader, but the decision was challenged by the ECP in the Supreme Court. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by then chief justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, had set aside the LHC’s verdict two days before the submission of candidates’ nomination papers for the by-elections on an appeal filed by the ECP.

The NA-120 seat had fallen vacant as a result of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by the Supreme Court on charges of concealing his salary from a Dubai-based company, which he claims he had never received.

The constituency comprises Sanda, Shamnagar, Chauburji, Islamapura, Sanatnagar, Rajgarh, Riwaz Garden, Mozang, Lake Road, Lower Mall, New Anarkali, Lytton Road, Queens Road, Hall Road, Cooper Road, Mayo Hospital, Urdu Bazaar, Bilal Gunj, Ravi Colony, Kasurpura, Khokhar Town and Mominpura.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has never lost an election in this constituency since 1985. Nawaz Sharif was unable to contest elections from here in 2002, as he was in exile at that time. In 2008, his nomination papers had been rejected by the then returning officer and he had to field a replacement.

In the 1985 non-party polls, Mr Sharif had defeated Jamaat-i-Islami backed Syed Asad Gilani by securing twice the number of votes bagged by the latter. The PPP had boycotted the polls. In 1988, from the platform of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), an alliance of anti-Bhutto parties, Mr Sharif had defeated PPP’s Iqbal Bhatti with a margin of 13,000 votes. As a nominee of the same alliance in 1990, he defeated Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan, whose party (the Tehreek-i-Istiqlal) he had joined in 1978.

In 1993, he formed his own faction of the Pakistan Muslim League and defeated PPP’s Zia Bakht Butt with a lead of around 24,000 votes. The winning margin increased to almost 40,000 when he defeated PPP’s Hafiz Ghulam Mohayuddin in the 1997 election when his party grabbed two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. In 2013, Dr Rashid had given Mr Sharif a tough time by securing around 52,000 votes.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2017