PML-N fields Nawaz Sharif’s wife Kulsoom as bypoll nominee to contest his Lahore seat

Lahore: Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Friday filed her nomination papers for bypoll to the NA-120 seat that fell vacant after her husband’s disqualification on 28 July by the Supreme Court.

Kulsoom Nawaz late on Thursday signed the nomination papers after the PML-N decided to field the former first lady for the bypolls in September.

After her husband’s incarceration following the military coup by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, Kulsoom had successfully led the party, though she never contested elections.

Her nomination for the key seat comes days after Nawaz Sharif had proposed that his younger brother Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif should succeed him as prime minister – after contesting from NA-120 to become a National Assembly member.

But the name of Shahbaz was apparently withdrawn after some senior party members apprehended that the PML-N could stand to lose its grip in Punjab in the absence of the younger Sharif.

Meanwhile, Yasmeen Rashid of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also submitted her nomination papers for the NA-120 bypoll.

On Thursday, two independent candidates had also submitted their papers.

According to media reports, as many as 35 candidates have filed nomination papers for the bypoll scheduled to be held on 17 September.

The scrutiny of papers will be held between 15 and 17 August, while the final list of candidates will be issued on 26 August, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.