PML-N, Q likely to strike seat adjustment deal for Feb 8 polls
January 04, 2024
- PML-Q wants seat adjustment on multiple seats.
- Chaudhry Shujaat’s son has submitted papers for two PP seats.
- Tariq Bashir Cheema is facing PML-N’s Saud Majeed.
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) are expected to strike a deal on seat adjustment for the general elections slated for February 8, 2024, as the negotiations between the two Punjab-based parties are ongoing, The News reported.
The sources said the PML-Q wanted seat adjustment on multiple seats in addition to those where they won elections in 2018, which included four National Assembly and eight provincial assembly seats.
PML-Q leaders Salik Hussain, Monis Elahi, Hussain Elahi and Tariq Bashir Cheema succeeded in those NA constituencies.
Chaudhry Shujaat’s son Shafay Hussain has submitted papers for two provincial assembly seats from Gujrat.
Sources said that seat adjustment for Salik Hussain and Shafay Hussain in Gujrat is expected, but they ruled out such an arrangement for Hussain Elahi and Musa Elahi from Gujrat.
In Bahawalpur, Tariq Bashir Cheema is facing PML-N’s Saud Majeed.
On the other hand, the PML-N is also in talks with the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) for seat adjustment.
PML-N senior leader Khurram Dastgir Khan on December 26, 2023, had said that seat adjustment with the IPP would be possible but their “big agenda” was still to be discussed.
Speaking about the IPP's purported demand for a multitude of constituencies, including some important ones, Dastgir had said that decisive negotiations could not take place after the Jahangir Tareen-led party made a huge demand.
"The party will discuss where they have to give them [IPP] space after making a final decision on tickets," the PML-N leader had said, after talks between both parties reached an impasse as the Shehbaz Sharif-led party was not eager to make an alliance on a multitude of its seats.
The News had reported citing sources that the IPP had called for adjustment on 50 provincial assembly seats and 26 National Assembly seats, as the talks between the two political parties continued without making any major breakthrough.
