Maryam undecided on constituency for her electoral debut

LAHORE: Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former premier Nawaz Sharif, on Saturday confirmed that she is going to step into the electoral arena, but has taken no decision about which constituency she will be contesting the July 25 general elections from.

Responding to the reports that she will be contesting the polls from NA-127 instead of NA-125, she tweeted: “No decision has been taken yet. Applying from both [constituencies]. Let the party and leadership decide.”Earlier, it was reported that she has obtained the nomination papers from returning officer Asif Bashir for NA-125, which was previously NA-120 until the fresh delimitation carried out by the electoral body.

It is the same constituency where her mother Kulsoom Nawaz won by-election in October, last year.

After a fierce contest between the candidates of the two rival political parties, Kulsoom, the former premier’s wife who is undergoing cancer treatment in London, had won back her husband’s seat after his disqualification, defeating PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid.

NA-120 seat had fallen vacant after former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification by the Supreme Court on July 28, 2017.

In the 2013 polls, Sharif had contested and won this NA seat.He was first elected by this constituency during the elections in 1985 held under Gen Zial ul Haq. Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan People’s Party and other opponents of the military regime had boycotted the non-party elections.