LA HOR E: Despite some opposition in the party ranks, the Pakistan People`s Party has decided to contest the NA-133 bypoll scheduled for Dec 5.

`On the direction of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari, the party has fielded its Lahore chapter president Aslam Gill for the seat, PPP central Punjab president Raja Pervaiz Ashraf told reporters here on Saturday.

Flanked by Hasan Murtaza, Shahzad Saeed Cheema and Aslam Gill, the formerprime minister said this election was against the unbridled inflation and worst law and order situation.

`The people of NA-133 will remember PPP`s services and elect its candidate,` Mr Ashraf said.

Mr Gill told Dawn that this bypoll would be a test case for the PPP ahead of the next general elections. He said the people were cursing the PTI government for making their lives miserable because of unprecedented price hike and inflation.

`In such a scenario, the PTI cannot even compete with the opposition candidates. We will contest this election and win it. We will go door to door and mobilise the voters,` Mr Gill said.

To a question about a kind of seat-adjustment with opposition PML-N, Mr Gill said: `No chance of seat adjustment with PML-Nas PPP will contest its own election,` he said.

In the 2018 general election, Gill had contested this seat and bagged about 6,000 votes.

Asif Hashmi, the founder member of PPP, in a statement opposed the party leadership decision. `The party leadership should have sought applications for the award of the ticket. An independent survey within the party should have been held to finalise the candidate,` Mr Hashmi said.

The `dreadful experience` during the Khushab bypoll in May last in which the PPP candidate could not even bag 300 votes had prompted some party leaders to carefully review whether the party should go for NA-133 bypoll or support the rival PML-N for `face saving`.

PPP`s then central Punjab president Qamar Zaman Kaira and general secretary Chaudhry Manzoor had resigned accepting`their mistake` in `confusion` over fielding the candidate from PP-84 (Khushab) without examining the ground realities.

`In case of yet another poor performance in the Lahore bypoll, the position of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf can be in jeopardy. However, the Punjab PPP leadership is confident that Mr Gill will perform well and provide a much-needed impetus to the party in the province,` a party insider said.

On the other hand, the PML-N is likely to field Shaista Pervaiz Malik, widow of former PML-N Lahore president Pervaiz Malik, for NA-133.

The seat fell vacant last week after the death of Mr Malik. Currently, Shaista Pervaiz is an MNA on a reserved seat for women.

PML-N`s Punjab information secretary Azma Bokhari told Dawn the party would announce its candidate shortly. `The party leadership is holding discussion in this regard and soon the candidate will be announced,` she said.

A source said since the party deputy secretary general Atta Tarar was interested in contesting this seat and Ms Malik was in mourning (iddat), some leaders were opposing giving her the ticket.

`However, since there has been a tradition in the party to award ticket to a family member of the deceased(party leader) Shaista Pervaiz Malik is favourite to get the party nomination, he said and added it was Mr Malik`s seat and should go to his family.

On the other hand, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has awarded the ticket to special assistant to the prime minister on food security Jamshed Iqbal Cheema.

Mr Cheema, in the last general election, had contested a National Assembly seat from Mughalpura area of Lahore and lost. Mr Cheema has resigned from the post to contest the election.

Mr Malik had defeated PTI Central PunjabPresident Ejaz Chaudhry in the 2018 election with a margin of some 12,000 votes.

The Election Commission has fixed Dec 5 for bypoll in NA-133 and also issued code of conduct. Candidates can file their nominations till Oct 25. Scrutiny of the papers will be done on Oct 30.

NA-133 covers the areas of Liaqatabad, Model Town Ext, Pindi Rajputan, Ismail Nagar, Kot Lakhpat, Chungi Amar Sadhu, Teharta Pind, Bagrian, Green Town, Township, Maryam Colony, Sitara Colony and Farid Colony. It has over 370,000 registered voters.