SIALKOT: PML-N stalwart Khwaja Muhammad Asif on Sunday submitted his nomination papers for NA-73, Sialkot-II, in the court of the returning officer.
Accompanied by Manshaullah Butt, a former provincial minister, Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram, PML-N city president, and scores of party workers, Khwaja Asif submitted his papers for the constituency where the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has fielded Usman Dar. Mr Dar is also considered a strong candidate.
Khwaja Asif, who got a new lease of political life when the apex court allowed him to contest the election by setting aside the life-time ban, told journalists that the PML-N would succeed in “the court of the masses” on July 25.
Arch-rival PTI to retain Usman Dar for significant contest
He predicted the constituents would bring the PML-N into power with a heavy mandate and reject those who promoted politics of conflict and confrontation besides hatching conspiracies to weaken the country.
The former foreign minister said his party was going to polls on the basis of its five-year performance which it achieved in the face of one obstacle after another.
The PML-N and the PTI have fielded the tried and tested candidates in NA-73 which was previously NA-110. Khwaja Asif has won the election five times in a row, including the 2013 general election, when he got 92,803 votes against Usman Dar’s 71,525 votes. Jamaat-i-Islami’s Arshad Mahmood Baggu remained third with 6,361 votes and PPP’s Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan (now in the PTI) could get only 2,195 votes.
Usman Dar fought a legal battle against Khwaja Asif and had him disqualified by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for possessing Iqama of the UAE. Later, Khwaja Asif submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan which suspended the IHC verdict, paving the way for him to contest the all-important election.
Both candidates have started flexing political muscles and are optimistic about victory in the election. The number of registered voters is 488,398 with an increase of 146,268 voters in Sialkot city’s NA-73 after the 2017 census.
Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2018
