KHUZDAR: The Baloc­histan National Party-Me­n­gal (BNP-M) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl) have reached a consensus on adjust seats for the upcoming general elections, sch­eduled for Feb 8 next year.

The two parties reached the understanding after hour-long negotiations held between BNP-Men­gal President Sardar Akhtar Mengal and JUI-F’s senior leader and former MNA Maulana Qamaruddin at Jamia Masjid Khuzdar on Tuesday night.

“Our negotiations remained fruitful and we reached an agreement for seat adjustment to contest the upcoming elections in Khuzdar,” a JUI-F spokesperson said, adding that both parties were actually continuing the legacy of the past when such an arrangement had successfully worked.

The seat adjustment agreement is Khuzdar-centric, where the BNP and JUI-F are going to field joint candidates.

It was decided that Ghulam Sarwar Mosiani and Mir Younas Zehri of JUI-F will be the joint candidates of the two parties from the Balochistan Assembly’s constituencies of PB-18 and PB-19, respectively.

Likewise, Mr Akhtar Mengal will run for the National Assembly’s constituency NA-256 (Khuz­dar-Kalat) and Balochistan Assembly’s seat PB-20 (Wadh) as a joint candidate of the two parties.

On Friday, the Election Commission of Pakistan issued the schedule for the upcoming Feb 8 polls after the Supreme Court orde­red the electoral watchdog to announce the election schedule immediately after the apex court suspended a Lahore High Cou­­rt order that had stayed the appointment of returning officers and district returning officers from the bureaucracy.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023