LAHORE: Four senior leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who had lost their seats in the general elections held on February 8, are not in the race for the by-elections, as they had not submitted their nomination papers.

PML-N leaders Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Mian Javed Latif and Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan had stayed away from the by-polls scheduled to be held on April 21.

In Punjab, for the National Assembly seats by-poll was scheduled in NA-119 Lahore-III and NA-132 Kasur-II. The seat of NA-119 was vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz while NA-132 was vacated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The by-elections were also being held in different Punjab Assembly constituencies, including PP-22 Chakwal-Cum-Talagang, PP-32 Gujrat VI, PP-36 Wazirabad-II, PP-54 Narowal-I, PP-93 Bhakkar-V, PP-139 Sheikhpura-IV, PP-147 Lahore-III, PP-149 Lahore-V, PP-158 Lahore XIV, PP-164 Lahore-XX, PP-266 Rahim Yar Khan-XII, and PP-290 Dera Ghazi Khan-V.

The seat of PP-147 was vacated by the former Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz while PP-149 was vacated by Istakam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) President Abdul Aleem Khan.

It may be added that March 29, is the last date for withdrawal of candidature and publication of the revised list of candidates, and subsequently, election symbols will be allotted to contesting candidates on March 30.

On the other hand, the nomination papers of 12 candidates, including the candidates of the PML-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been approved for NA-119. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has approved the nomination papers of PML-N’s candidate Ali Pervez Malik of PML-N, and PTI’s candidates Shahzad Farooq and Nadeem Sherwani for the by-election in NA-119. The nomination papers of other candidates, including Ali Sarwar Gillani, Zarak Tanveer, Akmal Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Asghar Ali, Ahmed Mughal, Muhammad Zaheer, Muhammad Nawaz and Mian Rohail Ashraf, have also been accepted.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024