PML-N bigwigs come 'face to face' over NA-121 party ticket

• Nawaz presides over PML-N's parliamentary board meeting.
  
• Sheikh Rohail adamant before the party leadership.
• Sadiq says over half of his old constituency included in NA-121.

LAHORE: During the parliamentary board meeting held on Saturday, two senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) engaged in a heated argument in an attempt to secure the party ticket from the National Assembly constituency in Lahore, The News reported on Sunday.

Sources claimed that PML-N stalwarts Sheikh Rohail Asghar and Ayaz Sadiq engaged in a contentious debate over the party ticket for the NA-121 seat.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif presided over a meeting of the PML-N's parliamentary board on Saturday in Lahore to select the names of candidates seeking party tickets. Other party officials, including Maryam Nawaz, the chief organiser of the PML-N, also attended the meeting.

Sheikh Rohail was adamant before the party leadership, demanding the ticket from the constituency saying that it was his home ground. Former speaker of the National Assembly Sadiq was also a candidate for the party ticket from the same constituency.

Sources mentioned that Sheikh Rohail had informed the meeting that NA-121 was his native constituency, and he intended to contest elections from there. If the party ticket was not granted to him, he declared his intention to contest as an independent candidate.

Furthermore, Sheikh Rohail pointed out that in 2018, a part of his constituency was included in Sadiq’s constituency. Consequently, he and his workers had campaigned for Sadiq. He questioned why, now that he has regained his original constituency, should not contest from his traditional home constituency.

Sources said that Sheikh Rohail emphasised that he had not submitted nomination papers from any other constituency, leaving him with no other option but to contest the election from this constituency.

In the meeting, Sadiq presented data on his old and new constituencies before the parliamentary board. The former NA speaker claimed that about 56% of his old constituency was included in NA-121. 

He, however, said that he was committed to party discipline and would accept every decision of the leadership regarding the ticket. On the other hand, Sheikh Rohail immediately left the party meeting after his speech.

Sources indicated that the PML-N leadership was put to the test by the demands of both senior leaders for tickets from the same constituency. 

The meeting clarified that Nawaz himself would make the final decision on the ticket in NA-121 and other seats, attempting to resolve issues between party stalwarts wherever similar situations arose.

Meanwhile, the nomination papers of PML-N leader and former prime minister Nawaz were approved for the NA-130 constituency of Lahore, while the nomination of Dr Yasmin Rashid of the PTI from NA-130 was rejected.

The PML-N supremo's nomination papers had also been approved for NA-15, Mansehra.

Similarly, all the nomination papers of Chief Organiser of PML-N Maryam were approved for all constituencies of Lahore and Sargodha.

Maryam had submitted nomination papers for two National Assembly constituencies, NA-119 and NA-120 of Lahore, as well as four provincial constituencies, PP-159, PP-160, PP-165, and PP-80 in Sargodha. Maryam will contest the election from the constituencies that the party decides.