KARACHI, Aug 11: The Pakistan Muslim League (Functional), the fourth largest party in the Sindh Assembly having 16 members in a house of 163, has decided to mobilise the party cadre at the UC level. The PML-F has four members in the National Assembly and one in the Senate.

A strong ally of the ruling coalition in the Centre and Sindh, the party has shrugged off any threat to its popularity or parliamentary strength from the possible return of the top PPP and PML-N leaders to the country before the upcoming general elections.

“We have decided to keep our party cadre fully prepared for the general elections even if called on a short notice, no matter the elections are held or not,” Syed Sadruddin Shah Rashdi, PML-F’s parliamentary party leader in the Sindh Assembly said after presiding over a party meeting at the Sindh Assembly’s Committee Room here on Saturday.

Accompanied by Speaker of the Sindh Assembly Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Nawab Rashid Ali Khan, Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh, Jam Madad Ali and Kanwar Qutbuddin, the PML leader briefed newsmen about the party’s strategy for the elections.

He said that applications for party ticket have been invited from the aspirants and September 8 has been fixed as the cut off date. The list of applicants would be reviewed by the party’s parliamentary board which would classify the applicants in three priorities before putting forward its recommendations to the party chief, Pir Pagara, for his final approval, he added.

Mr Rashdi said that the applications for a party ticket along with bank draft (of Rs20,000 for NA seat and Rs10,000 for a PA seat) were being collected by the party’s Secretary General Nawab Rashid Ali Khan.

“All our district and union council setups have been advised to collect feed back and to make assessment vis-a-vis the aspirants’ potential,” he said.