LAHORE: On the last date for filing of the nomination papers for the by-polls to be held on 14 October, leaders of different political parties submitted their documents with the Election Commission of Pakistan for the purpose on Thursday.

PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former federal minister Abid Sher Ali filed their nomination papers with for NA-124 (Lahore) by-poll, while former railways minister and now MPA, Khwaja Saad Rafique, filed his papers for NA-131.

Similarly, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders Waleed Iqbal, Humayun Akhtar Khan and singer Ibrarul Haq have submitted their papers for NA-131 constituency.

PTI’s Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan and Muhammad Madni filed papers for NA-124.

Former speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, told reporters that Mr Abbasi and Mr Rafique would be the PML-N candidates for NA-124 and NA-131, respectively. “We will get back our mandate in the by-polls,” he said, adding that to save the system the party had decided not to boycott the parliament.

He said the election commissioner should have resigned after the failure of RTS system, adding that the polls were rigged to defeat the PML-N.

Singer Ibrarul Haq said the PTI chairman would make the final decision about the party’s candidates for NA-124 and NA-131.

NA-124 was vacated by the PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif’s son Hamza Shahbaz and NA-131 by the PTI chairman Imran Khan.

The by-polls will be held on total eight National Assembly seats in Punjab which are: NA-56 (Attock-II), NA-60 (Rawalpindi-IV), NA-63 (Rawalpindi-VII), NA-65 (Chakwal-II), NA-69 (Gujrat-II), NA-103 (Faisalabad-III), NA-124 (Lahore-II), NA-131 (Lahore-IX).

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2018