LAHORE, Aug 22: The Punjab PPP executive at a meeting here on Sunday decided to challenge the 'manipulated victory' of Shaukat Aziz on the Attock seat in the relevant court of law.

The participants alleged that the voter turnout had been fudged and reports of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and other independent organizations were sufficient to expose the irregularities committed by the ruling party to win the seat.

Provincial president Qasim Zia presided over the meeting, which also discussed at length factors favourable to the opposition candidate as well as those that went against him. The alleged corrupt modes used by the PML to win the seat also came up for discussion.

Meanwhile, information secretary Naveed Chaudhry said at a news conference that 'merit' was the biggest casualty of the electoral battle in Attock as all election laws were blatantly violated by the ruling party.

Party's secretary-general Rana Aftab Khan was also present at the news conference. The party advised the finance minister not to don the mantle of the head of government as his 'victory' was not well-founded.

The meeting devoted considerable time to a discussion on the local elections due to be held some time next year. It was decided that party's organizational structure would be completed down to the union council level by Sept 20. Lists of leaders capable of contesting the local elections would also be prepared by that day.

The provincial leadership would visit all districts of the province to examine the preparations as well as the suitability of candidates the lower-tier organizations would propose.

Mr Chaudhry reiterated that Benazir Bhutto had nothing to do with Surrey Mansion and that Asif Zardari had claimed its ownership only to call the NAB bluff. He said now it was for the NAB to prove that the multi-million-pound property belonged to the spouse of the self-exiled former prime minister.

About the ARD candidate who would contest prime minister's election against Shaukat Aziz, Mr Chaudhry said he would be selected by the alliance. He denied reports that there were differences between the PPP and the PML-N, major components of the coalition.

He told a questioner that there might be some difference of opinion between the ARD and the MMA but there was none among the ARD components. In case the religious alliance decided to boycott the election, it would implicitly be supporting the ruling party, the PPP leader said.

The party has asked those wanting to contest the by-election on the Gujranwala seat vacated as a result of MMA's Mufti Hazarvi's death, to file applications by Sept 20.