Sharif, brother to contest bypolls in June

The constituency chosen by Sharif in Lahore is one that was created by the bifurcation of a seat he had fought elections from in 1993.

PML-N lawyer Kahliq Hussain Bhatti also obtained nomination papers for Sharif and Shahbaz for two National Assembly seats in Rawalpindi that were vacated by PML-N leaders who won more than one seat in the February 18 general election.

Shahbaz’s representatives also obtained nomination papers for a Punjab provincial assembly seat in Rawalpindi. The last date for submitting nomination papers is April 21.

PML-N sources said the party’s leadership is optimistic that the nomination papers of Sharif and Shahbaz would be accepted for the by-polls. They said the party will pursue the case in court if the papers are rejected. The PML-N has already said that Shahbaz will become chief minister of Punjab once he gets elected in the by-polls.

The nomination papers of Sharif were rejected last year by election officials due to his conviction on charges of terrorism in the case related to the turning away of the aircraft bringing President Pervez Musharraf back from a foreign visit in 1999. The event sparked a military coup led by Musharraf, who was then the army chief, and resulted in the ouster of Sharif as prime minister.

Shahbaz’s nomination papers were rejected because he was linked to a case of extra-judicial killings that occurred during his tenure as chief minister of Punjab in the late 1990s. A court in Lahore recently acquitted him in the case.

The PML-N refused to file appeals before election tribunals after the nomination papers of the brothers were rejected, saying the party did not expect justice from judges who had endorsed Musharraf’s emergency rule.

Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari is expected to contest by-elections from a National Assembly constituency in Larkana in Sindh province for which his slain wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, had earlier filed nominations. Zardari, who recently became eligible to contest polls after Pakistani and foreign courts dropped all anti-corruption cases against him, is expected to go to Larkana on April 20 to submit his nomination papers. Polls to the parliamentary constituency in Larkana were put off after Bhutto’s assassination. Zardari decided to contest by-polls from the traditional constituency of the Bhutto family.

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