News Analysis |
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N’s) leader and ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz has withdrawn her nominations for upcoming polls from National Assembly-NA -125. “I don’t want to contest elections from NA-125, therefore, my name and election symbol should not be published on nomination papers,” she said in her application. Following her plea, Returning Officer from NA-125 has returned her nomination papers.
Maryam was unable to submit the application to withdraw her nomination papers on time, resultantly, RO had allotted her the electoral symbol of a pencil. She was told by her counsel that if she wants to withdraw her nomination, she should submit a written application.
Today, Maryam Nawaz’s lawyer, Zia butt had presented a written application and argued that she is not willing to contest the polls from NA-115, as an independent candidate, therefore, her election symbol [pen] and her name should not be published on nomination papers. The application was accepted and her nomination papers were returned today.
PML-N dismisses this notion and explains that it is only a change in tactics to defeat its rivals both in NA-125 and NA-127. The independent analysts predict that Maryam may win the NA-127 constituency, but it will be difficult for Waheed Alam to win against the stronger PTI’s candidate.
From NA-125, main opponents of Maryam Nawaz was PTI’s, Dr. Yasmin Rashid. She had contested the elections from the same constituency in 2013 and lost out to PML-N’s Supreme leader-Nawaz. She had secured 52,354 votes, while Nawaz managed to win with 91,683 votes.
Read more: Clash of titans: The political battle for NA-125
After Nawaz’s disqualification on July 28, 2017, by-elections were held in the constituency, where she again lost to Nawaz’s wife Begum Kalsoom Nawaz. However, the margin of the defeat had narrowed down which encouraged PTI to again field Dr. Yasmin to contest the elections against the powerful PML-N in the Lahore constituency.
RO had allotted her the electoral symbol of a pencil. She was told by her counsel that if she wants to withdraw her nomination, she should submit a written application.
Maryam was supposed to contest the election from her mother’s constituency but was later issued a ticket for NA-127. Subsequently, the PML-N had awarded a ticket to Waheed Alam for NA-125. PTI claims that Maryam was not confident enough in order to secure victory in the area, which forced her to run away from this constituency. PML-N dismisses this notion and explains that it is only a change in tactics to defeat its rivals both in NA-125 and NA-127.
Read more: Are political rivals really afraid of PML-N’s victory?
The independent analysts predict that Maryam may win the NA-127 constituency, but it will be difficult for Waheed Alam to win against the stronger PTI’s candidate. The other notable candidate from the constituency includes PPP’s Hafiz Zubair Kardar and Hafiz Salman Butt of MMA.