SAHIWAL: The electoral contest in the upcoming by-polls for NA-143 (Sahiwal-III) and PP-203 (Sahiwal-VI) constituencies of Chichawatni tehsil has narrowed down to one-on-one bouts to be held between the candidates of the ruling PML-N and those fighting independently.

Chichawatni Assistant Commissioner Javed Mumtaz, who is also returning officer (RO) for both constituencies, told Dawn on Friday that out of the 20 contestants who had initially filed their nomination papers (totaling up to 10 candidates from each constituency), only four remain in the electoral race -- two in each constituency.

The final lineup includes the PML-N nominees — two brothers, Tufail Jutt and Hanif Jutt, who have been allotted the party’s symbol “lion,” and as many independent candidates — Zarar Akbar Chaudhry and Falak Sher—who will contest independently on “huqqa” symbol, from NA-143 and PP-203, respectively.

The candidates of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with several independents, have withdrawn their nominations “following directives from their respective party leaderships”.

PTI’s West Punjab president Rai Hasan Nawaz confirmed to Dawn that the

Rai family of Chichawatni will neither contest, nor support any group in the by-elections.

“We are completely out [of the contest] on the PTI chairman’s direction,” he added.

Shahzad Saeed Cheema of the PPP, who has been a parliamentarian and provincial information secretary, says that it has been unanimously decided that the party wont field its candidate in both constituencies.

“That is why, I withdrew my name,” he told Dawn.

Similarly, IPP’s central leader Malik Nouman Langriyal, whose son Falak Sher had filed nomination papers for both seats, also withdrew the same, leaving the contest exclusively between the PML-N and the independents.

Sources say that Chaudhry Zahid Iqbal, a former MNA and Sahiwal district nazim, has also unconditionally withdrew his papers on the direction of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, and publicly announced support for the PML-N nominees – Jutt brothers.

Zahid had bagged 19,979 and 16,416 votes in the 2024 general election from NA-143 and PP-203 as an independent candidate.

Other candidates who have withdrawn their nomination papers include, Ahmed Ali Nasir, Umair Saleem, Ali Javed, Majid Hussain, Ahmed Mujtaba, Aamir Shahzad and Muhammad Ayub.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2025