LAHORE, Aug 18: Punjab Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has unanimously selected 105 candidates of the six-party alliance for contesting National Assembly polls in the province.

Briefing newsmen here on Sunday after a meeting that lasted for almost two days to decide the issue, Punjab MMA President Hafiz Idrees said 20 more candidates would be selected within a couple of days while the rest of the constituencies would be left open.

Similarly, for the 297 general seats of the Punjab Assembly, nominations against 200 had been made and 30 more were under consideration while the rest of the seats would not be contested by the alliance, he said.

He told a questioner that adjustments with other political parties would be decided by the central command of the MMA. But the constituent of the alliance would withdraw its respective candidate(s) in case of any adjustment on seat(s) with other parties, he added.

According to the recommendations for 13 NA seats of Lahore District, Maulana Amjad Khan will contest from NA-118, Seth Muhammad Khalid from NA-119, Hafiz Salman Butt from NA-120, Mian Maqsood from NA-121, Farid Piracha from NA-122, Gen K.M. Azhar from NA-125, Liaquat Baloch from NA-126, Pir Ijaz Hashmi from NA-127, Jehangir Bara from NA-128, Advocate Abdul Samad Khan from NA-129 and Chaudhry Manzoor Husain from NA-130.

Recommendations for NA-123 and NA-124 were yet to be finalized as Hafiz Muhammad Nadeem, Ibtesam Ilahi Zaheer, Haji Abdur Razzaq and Qari Zawwar Bahadur were claimants for two seats.

Sources in the MMA said Haji Abdur Razzaq had later withdrew in favour of Qari Zawwar. Haji will now contest for a provincial assembly seat.

Central and provincial office-bearers of the MMA constituents and the activists, who had earlier contested polls for a seat, were unanimously selected as candidates for the October elections, they said.

The meeting could not reach a decision on one each NA constituency of Rawalpindi, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Jhang, the sources said. The issue had been referred to the central parliamentary board.

Both the Islami Tehrik Pakistan (former TJP led by Allama Sajid Naqvi) and JUI (Fazlur Rahman faction) were claiming their right over a Jhang National Assembly seat, they said and claimed that the JUI wanted to keep the seat open for the jailed leader of banned Sipah-i-Sahaba, Maulana Azam Tariq.