LAHORE, Jan 13: Three PML-N candidates, including former finance minister Ishaq Dar, submitted their nomination papers for Senate polls on Monday.

Sadia Khaqan Abbasi and Sajid Mir (Jamiat-i-Ahl-i-Hadith) were the two other candidates who filed their nominations.

They were the only applicants who submitted nominations from the Punjab on first day of filing nominations for the Senate.

Provincial election commissioner Rahim Nawaz Khan Durrani received the nomination papers and asked the candidates to appear in person on the date of scrutiny.

Sadia Abbasi filed her nomination from the women seats quota while the other two candidates applied from the general seats quota. Rana Tanveer Hussain, Mian Asad Muhammad and Saif Khosa submitted nomination papers as covering candidates for the three applicants.

PML-N leaders —- Saifur Rehman Khan, Malik Pervez, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahad Malik, Ayyaz Sadiq, Majida Zaidi, Saba Sadiq, Mehar Ishtiaq, Bilal Yasin —- were also present in the office of the provincial election commission at the time of the filing of the papers.

Later, talking to the press, Ishaq Dar claimed that no MPA of the PML-N would vote against the party interest in the Senate polls since PML-N MNAs and MPAs were loyal to the party. He said all elected members of the PML-N who had favoured the PML-Q would soon be back and that they had shifted their political loyalties under a compromise which would not last long.