ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) Chair­per­son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will chair a session of the party’s parliamentary board on Sunday (today) to distribute tickets among aspirants ahead of by-polls on vacant National Assembly seats, slated to be held next month.

The meeting of the parliamentary board is being held a day after the PPP sought applications from aspiring candidates to vie for the NA seats on the PPP platform; applications can be submitted by Feb 12.

The PPP chief, who will attend the huddle via video link from Karachi, was scheduled to arrive in the port city on Saturday night after the culminat­ion of his official visit. PPP leaders Asif Ali Zar­dari and Faryal Talpur would also accompany him.

When contacted, PPP stalwart Farhatullah Babar told Dawn that the party had decided that in the light of an ECP directive, tickets could be given at a later stage following the finalisation of the list of suitable candidates. The former spokesperson of Mr Zardari said that a list of candidates would be finalised today.

The PPP candidates, hai­ling from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, can submit their applications at Zardari House Islam­abad, while those interested to contest polls from Sindh and Balochistan may file their application in Bilawal House, Karachi, the party leader added. He added that each application along with a bank draft of Rs40,000 may be addressed to the president of PPP Parliamentarians.

This will be the first time the PPP chairman is leading the process to decide who will get party tickets for by-polls.

Earlier, this task fell to the party’s high command, including his aunt Faryal Talpur and other heavyweights.

On Thursday, the PPP constituted an 11-member parliamentary board led by its chairman to finalise candidates for the upcoming by-elections on NA seats.

The ECP had announced the schedule for by-polls on 31 seats a week after it had set March 16 as the polling date for by-election on 33 NA seats.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2023