LAHORE: After long deliberations, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is also the president of PML-N, has finally invited applications from the ‘interested candidates’ for the elections in Punjab scheduled to be held on April 30.

Most PML-N leaders including its chief organizer Maryam Nawaz are among those predicting that elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are unlikely to take place.

The PML-N is the last mainstream party that indulged in this exercise (seeking applications from candidates) after the poll date was announced. Even on Thursday, Maryam Nawaz stressed that there could be no elections in Punjab and KP until Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan was held accountable.

On Thursday, PM Sharif also directed constitution of parliamentary boards both in Punjab and KP for award of tickets. “As the Election Commission has set March 14 as the last date to submit nomination papers, the candidates should follow it,” he said.

Mr Sharif directed the party men to start preparations for contesting the polls in Punjab as PML-N had served the masses. “With the guidance of Nawaz Sharif, the supreme leader of PML-N, the party always managed to overcome crises. Like we got rid of loadshedding of electricity we will manage to overcome the economic crises,” he claimed.

On the other hand, the PML-N president called upon the senior leaders of the party to form a strategy to contest the polls (against Imran Khan’s PTI) as its candidates would be fielded to win.

The ECP on Wednesday announced the schedule for elections in Punjab to be held on April 30, whereas in KP, the election watchdog’s meeting with KP Governor Ghulam Ali to develop a consensus on the polls date remained an exercise in futility.

A party insider told Dawn that the PML-N was left with no other option after the ECP announced the election schedule in Punjab but to start the process of short-listing candidates.

“Although there has been a clear stance of several PML-N leaders, including Rana Sanaullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Saad Rafique and Attaullah Tarar, that elections in both provinces are unlikely to happen, the air of uncertainty in the PML-N ranks has not been clear despite the party president’s directive to invite applications,” he said, adding since Maryam Nawaz was calling the shots within the party everyone (leaders and workers) was looking up to her to make it clear that the PML-N was ready to contest polls in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2023