MULTAN: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will contest upcoming election from NA-158 (previously NA-154).

The nomination papers for Mr Gilani were collected by his counsel from Returning Officer Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza on Monday.

Syed Javed Ali Shah of the PML-N had won from the constituency in 2013 general election, obtaining 80,650 votes. Muhammad Ibrahim Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Syed Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani of the PPP were runners up with 64,395 and 32,435 votes, respectively.

Veteran politician Javed Hashmi has also announced he would contest from NA-155 and NA-158. He claims to have the support of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

PML-N sources said that Mr Hashmi, who is planning to contest election as an independent candidate, wants the party’s support in both the constituencies, but he was being offered the backing in one of these.

According to the PTI sources, the party ticket for the constituency would be awarded to Ibrahim Khan. They said Shah Mehmood Qureshi had sought PTI ticket for a former PPP MNA, Nawab Liaqat Ali Khan, instead of Ibrahim Khan.

They said that Mr Qureshi arranged a meeting of Nawab Liaqat with PTI chairman Imran Khan who had agreed to award the party ticket to Nawab Liaqat.

However, they said, the decision was later changed on the intervention of Jahangir Khan Tareen who favoured Ibrahim Khan.

The sources said both Ibrahim Khan and Nawab Liaqat offered each other support for provincial assembly seat from the constituency. They said Nawab Liaqat did not apply for PTI ticket and wanted to contest the poll as an independent candidate.

Other prominent figures who collected nomination papers on Sunday include Haji Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Abdul Qadir Gilani and Shahzad Maqbool Bhutta of PML-N (for NA-154), Shah Mehmood Qureshi of PTI and Rana Shahidul Hasan of PML-N (for NA-156), Zain Qureshi and Ali Musa Gilani (for NA-157).

On the first day, 13 candidates collected nomination papers for NA-154, 14 for NA-155, 17 for NA-156 and three for NA-157.

Former PML-N MPA Amir Saeed Ansari collected nomination papers for NA-156 and PP-215, Muhammad Tahir Malik of PML-N for PP-213 and PP-217, district president of PML-N Bilal Butt for PP-214, Shaikh Tahir Rashid of PML-N for PP-220, Mazhar Abbas Raan of PPP for PP-218 and Chaudhry Muhammad Hanif of PML-N for PP-213.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2018