Pakistan: PMLN, PPP to jointly contest Punjab bypolls

Islamabad [Pakistan], June 8 (ANI): Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party have decided to jointly contest the Punjab by-election which is scheduled on 20 seats of the Provinceial Assembly.
The decision was taken in a meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz and PPP-Parliamentarians head Asif Ali Zardari at the Bilawal House Tuesday.
All the Pakistani leaders agreed to support each other in the bypolls being held on vacant seats in Punjab, The News International reported.
The polls are scheduled on 20 seats of the Punjab Assembly where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had won in 2018 general elections and its MPAs had later defected to the PMLN and faced disqualification.
It is to be noted that of the 20 seats, nine are in southern Punjab where the PPP, as an organisation and its vote bank are stronger as compared to central Punjab, and its support to the PMLN in a close contest can cost the PTI, as per the publicatuion.
The Election Commission of Pakistan last month said the by-elections on the 20 vacant seats would be held on July 17, Dawn newspaper reported.
Talking to the media, senior PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed apprehension that the Punjab government would employ its resources to influence the by-polls.
The seats on which the by-polls will be held are: PP-7 Rawalpindi-II; PP-83 Khushab-II; PP-90 Bhakkar-II; PP-97 Faisalabad-I; PP-125 Jhang-II; PP-127 Jhang-IV, PP-140 Sheikhupura-VI; PP-158 Lahore-XV; PP-167, 168 and 170, Lahore-XXIV, XXIV and XXVI; PP-202 Sahiwal-VII; PP-217 Multan-VII; PP-224 Lodhran-I; PP-228 Lodhran-V; PP-237 Bahawalnagar-I; PP-272 and 273, Muzaffargarh-V, VI; PP-282 Layyah-III; and PP-288 Dera Ghazi Khan-IV, as per Dawn. (ANI)