LAHORE – Dr Yasmin Rashid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will contest the upcoming by-polls from NA-120 constituency against Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif who is tipped to be next prime minister after Nawaz Sharif’s ouster following the Panama case verdict the other day.
The Friday’s verdict was handed down unanimously by a five-member SC bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.
Soon after the PM’s ouster, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-notified Nawaz Sharif as a member of National Assembly from constituency NA-120, Lahore with immediate effect.
“[PTI chief] Imran Khan has given green signal to contest election from NA-120 constituency,” Ms Rashid told the media on Saturday. “I have continued my electoral campaign till date,” she added.
Meanwhile, PTI in a parliamentary committee meeting on Saturday decided to push for a nominee unanimously supported by opposition parties for the vacant post of prime minister.
During the meeting chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, the party’s leaders discussed the Panamagate verdict and its repercussions on the political climate in Pakistan.
Following the sit-down, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the media that he had conveyed the party’s desire to field a unanimously agreed-upon candidate to Leader of the Opposition Khursheed Shah.
Qureshi also confirmed that the party was fielding Yasmeen Rashid to contest by-polls for the NA-120 constituency left vacant after the deseating of Nawaz Sharif.
Ms Rashid was runner up in the same constituency against Nawaz Sharif during 2013 elections. She had secured more than 50,000 votes. Nawaz Sharif had stood victorious with 91666 votes.
Meanwhile, reports suggest Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) former ticket holder Hafiz Zubair would also contest elections from the same constituency.
