PESHAWAR, Feb 11: The Pakistan People’s Party has allotted Senate tickets to its five candidates, contesting for three general seats and each one for the technocrat and woman seat.

According to Khwaja Yawar Naseer, a PPP leader, a total of 17 candidates had applied for party tickets from the Frontier province. The party has finalised the names of Sardar Ali Khan, Waqar Ahmed Khan and his father Gulzar Ahmed Khan for the general seats. It has also approved the candidatures of Adnan Bashir and Farhat Qamar Abbas, widow of Syed Qamar Abbas, for the technocrat and woman seats, respectively.

Adnan Bashir, from Abbottabad, had lost the provincial assembly election with a margin of some 500 votes in February general polls. He is a close relation of Qazi Jameel, a former attorney general of Pakistan and a former judge of Peshawar High Court.

The Awami National Party has also announced the list of its five candidates, but its local leadership is not satisfied over the seat distribution formula with the PPP.

The ANP, which has 48 seats, is opposed to allocation of five seats to its junior partner, PPP, which has 30 seats in the House. The ANP is not ready to abandon its one seat for nothing. It has announced that it will take up the issue with President Zardari and ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. The third partner, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, which has 14 MPAs, has also fielded its two candidates.

The independent MPAs and opposition groups, both faction of Pakistan Muslim League and PPP-Sherpao, have a joint strength of 32 MPAs. They can jointly do a miracle and upset the election exercise. At present, they all are independent and free to act on the call of their conscience.

The PPP-Sherpao has decided that it will not put up any candidate. Similarly, both factions of the PML are free to vote any candidate which suits them better. And independent will also prove their independence during the election.

Most of the dedicated workers, who have applied for party tickets, are unhappy over the allotment of PPP tickets to Gulzar Ahmed Khan and his son, Waqar Ahmed Khan.

“It is against the party policy. PPP central leadership should award tickets to committed party workers, who had made numerous sacrifices in the past for the party,” a PPP candidate complained.

Behramand Khan Tangi, Khwaja Yawar Naseer, Syed Ayub Shah, Azam Khan Afridi, Malik Waheed, Ayaz Awan and Dr Afsarul Mulk, all old workers, had applied for the Senate, but none of them could secure a ticket.