ISLAMABAD Jan 31: Lobbying for party tickets for the 46 vacant seats of the Senate intensified following the announcement of elections on March 6.

The combined opposition parties, which now appeared to be more unified than before, were likely to hold meetings on a provincial basis to achieve a consensus on fielding joint candidates to win a maximum number of seats.

An opposition leader, when asked about the possibility of such an arrangement, said the atmosphere was “good for opposition groups to join hands” and they had close contacts on the issue.

The Pakistan Muslim League extended the date for receiving applications for Senate seats till Feb 8. It has so far received 100 applications for Senate tickets. It was expected to grab majority of 46 general, technocrat and female seats along with its allies in four provinces.

As a result of the extension, the party’s parliamentary board, headed by party president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, was expected to meet after Feb 8 to finalise the list of party candidates.

A party source expressed his astonishment over the extension of date after closing it on Jan 28. He said if nomination papers were to be submitted on Feb 11 there appeared to be no room for a regular meeting of the parliamentary board, which comprised Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and party’s secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Syed.

Another party source said the party president had made decisions about ticket allotment in consultation with the provincial party leadership while decision on the remaining tickets would be made during the next few days. These nominations, he said, would be endorsed in an informal meeting of the party’s board.

It had been reported that party tickets would be allotted to most of the sitting senators, whose term would be suspended on March 11. Federal ministers and ministers of state, who had failed to make it to the next term in Jan 2 ballot, would definitely be obliged by the party

The ruling coalition, which had a strength of 56 in 100-member house, eyed clinching all vacant seats and even a couple more by seeking support from some of the opposition members with soft corner for the government.