ISLAMABAD, Feb 4: President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday chaired a meeting of the ruling PML held to discuss and finalise party tickets for Senate elections as recommended by the party high command on Friday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed, and chief ministers of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Jam Yousuf and Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim Khan, respectively, were prominent among those who attended the meeting.

A party source said that Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro had conveyed to the concerned quarters that he would not be as a candidate for the chairmanship of the upper house. He was tipped as future foreign minister.

The meeting finalised candidates from Punjab and Sindh for the elections to be held on March 4 and 6. It deferred decisions about Balochistan, NWFP, technocrats, Fata and female seats.

Ahmed Saeed, former chairman of PIA, was among the ticket winners from Punjab against Minister of State Dr Shahzad Wasim. Haroon Akhtar Khan, brother of Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan, emerged to win support against Naeem Hussain Chattha.

Some sitting senators who were re-allotted party tickets were Special Assistant to Prime Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, Javed Ashraf Qazi and Tariq Azeem from Punjab.

A decision about nominations from Islamabad, NWFP, Fata, and female and technocrat seats will be taken at a meeting expected to be held on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Senate chairman Mohammedmian Soomro, Dr Hafiz Sheikh and Political Adviser to Chief Minister Ghaffar Qureshi were finalised as party candidates from Sindh.

The name of Justice (retd) Abdul Razzaq Thaheem of the Pagara group was accepted as a joint candidate.

The meeting decided that the coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement might nominate its candidates for the four seats it had vacated.

According to insiders, President Musharraf took serious notice of reports that some PML leaders were trying to influence the award of the party tickets. He was quoted as having said at the meeting that all decisions must be taken on merit and that the recommendations of the party president would be final.

The sources said that former president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari wanted a couple of his relatives to be given party tickets.