Several ex-PML-N legislators said on Friday that the MPA candidates in Punjab have no idea what happened to the application and fees they submitted earlier this year.
The former MPAs told The Express Tribune that they believed the misinformation was intentional and meant to force them to renew their membership fees.
The PML-N has already begun accepting applications for national and provincial assembly seats, the first step in the ticket issuance process. According to the party’s website, the application deadline for tickets is November 10.
A draft for Rs100,000 is required for a Punjab seat application and Rs200,000 is required for a National Assembly ticket application, as per the party’s norms. Those wanting more than one ticket must purchase them individually.
Several ex-members of the party’s parliament have corroborated this.
Interestingly, this was not the first time that candidates in Punjab had to go through this procedure; in March of this year, when elections in the province were announced by ECP on April 30th, the party had invited applications for provincial tickets along with an Rs100,000 draft.
PML-N, which was in power in the center then, had declared via official media outlet that it would be constructing a parliamentary body which would start issuing tickets by March 15.
However, at the very last minute, the party either opted against releasing tickets or got wind of ECP’s plot of whimsically delaying elections.
Some former MPAs who submitted tickets in the hopes that the party would take them into consideration and give them tickets now stated that the party had not communicated with them.
The party’s communication secretary, Marriyum Aurangzeb, was asked about these applications on November 1 and responded that, to the best of her knowledge, people who had already submitted tickets along with the dues did not need to submit them again.
Former government of Sindh spokesman for Nawaz Sharif Muhammad Zubair, however, said that all previous applicants would need to reapply.
He noted that not everyone who had previously expressed interest in running for office was still keen on doing so after the initial application deadline had passed.
He explained that some voters may seek new applications because of the changed electoral district boundaries. When asked about party dues, he indicated the organization would “consider that,” but he didn’t elaborate.
Four former members of parliament told The Express Tribune that they have received no response from the party over the dues they paid. They agreed that they had discussed the matter amongst themselves and were planning to bring it up with the party leadership.
They all agreed that the need to submit a second bank draft was a direct result of the misunderstanding.
Both former MPAs, Khawaja Waseem and Akhtar Hussain, stated that they had already submitted a draft and paid Rs100,000 for their applications earlier in the year when asked to clarify this. However, both couldn’t recollect the specific date.
Ex-MPA Waseem said that they will resubmit their payments because they are unsure of what happened to their previous payments. He insisted, however, that this was not an issue for any would-be contender.
When questioned to confirm that a person would submit one draft for each application for a ticket, he responded that this is the case.
