LAHORE Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz will have to sacrifice at least 20 potential candidates in the coming elections as a price of political support extended to it by members of the unification bloc who are 47 in number. As per the understanding reached between members of the said political group and PML-N, the latter will not field its candidates against them in the coming elections; and if PML-N got majority to form next government in Punjab, their men will be given preference in allocation of ministries. Out of 47 members of the forward bloc, seven have been elected on seats reserved for women; hence they wont be getting PML-N tickets in coming elections, but they will also be rewarded in one form or the other. Apart from the promised 40 tickets to members of the unification bloc, they are already getting numerous favours from the Punjab government. They hold sway over matters of postings and transfers of DSPs, SHOs, tehsildars and patwaris in their respective constituencies. Besides, they have also been given development schemes to please their voters. It is interesting to note that not only PML-Q has gained political benefits by making alliance with PPP in the Centre. Its break-away faction in Punjab is also going to have similar advantages in the coming elections in lieu of its unflinching support to the PML-N government. Thus both have apparently secured their political future by aligning themselves with the two major political parties which also needed them the most to remain in power. Much like PPP which may face dissensions in the party as a result of massive seat adjustments with PML-Q, Nawaz party will also have to pay a price, though not so heavy compared with that of PPP, for getting support from the unification bloc. As a result of the said arrangement, PML-N will have to forego at least 20 potential candidates who were either runners-up or stood third in the last election to accommodate its new allies from PML-Q. Out of the 40 provincial constituencies which will be handed over to members of the forward bloc as per the agreement, PML-N had fielded its candidates in 38 constituencies. A study of 2008 election results shows that out of these 38 constituencies, PML-N candidates performed better only in 20. In rest of them, most of its candidates secured less than 10,000 votes. So, it will not be much problematic for PML-N to accommodate members of PML-Q forward bloc in the constituencies in question. Here is a brief account of the 40 constituencies being given to the unification bloc and those PML-N candidates who performed better in the last election, but will not be contesting the coming one due to the said agreement. Constituencies where PML-N candidates showed dismal performance have also been discussed briefly PP-4 Rawalpindi, Raja Muhammad Hameed who secured 32,648 votes in 2008 elections, but lost to Shaukat Aziz Bhatti of PML-Qs forward bloc who got 38,437 votes. Yehya Faiz Brig (r) Muhammad Hassan of PPP obtained 34,718 votes. PP-5 Rawalpindi-V, Raja Anwar who got 32,356 votes but was defeated by Engineer Raja Qamar-ul-Islam of PML-Qs forward bloc. Raja got 34,252 votes. Barrister Ch Zafar Iqbal of PPP secured 31,040 votes in that contest. PP-17 Attock-III, Sardar Muhammad Ali with 24,305 votes in last election will have to support Sher Ali of forward bloc who won from this constituency securing 41,409 votes. Haji Ishtaq Ahmed Khan of PPP stood third with 40,691 votes. PP-19 Attock-V, Sardar Mumtaz Khan with 34,557 votes will have to stay away from the next contest in favour of Malik Itbar Khan of forward bloc who won the seat obtaining 41,003 votes. PP-23 Chakwal-IV, Col (R) Sultan Surkhru Awan with 41,962 votes will not be contesting this time to ensure success of Malik Muhammad Zahoor Anwar of forward bloc who emerged victorious in last election getting 45,024 votes. PP-28 Sargodha-I, Muhammad Muhsan Shah did not perform better in previous election as got only 6,376 votes. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath of forward loc who got 45,686 votes will hold sway over the constituency. Haji Mushtaq Ahmed Gondal of PPP also gave dismal performance securing 19,477 votes. PP-52 Faisalabad-II, Dr Muhammad Shafique Chadhry with 22,693 votes in previous contest as against 31,633 of Zafar Zulkarnain Sahi of forward bloc. Sohail Iqbal of PPP got 17,759 from this constituency. PP-58 Faisalabad-VIII, Rana Naeem Iqbal who secured 9,349 votes. He will not be justified to lay claim over the seat in coming elections. Shahid Khalil Noor of forward bloc won from PP-58 obtaining 21,773 votes. Haji Maqbool Ahmad Fatiana of PPP was the runner-up with 20,544 votes. PP-61-Faisalabad-XI, Ch Zahid Mahmood Goraya with 17,547 votes in last election will give way to Sardar Dildar Ahmad Cheema of forward bloc who gained victory with 24,669 votes. PPPs Ch Gul Ahmad Mahota got 20,793 votes. PP-75-Jhag-III, PML-N leadership will not have any problem here refusing ticket to Muhammad Abu Zar Bharwana who got 9,969 votes as against 24,298 of Saqlain Anwar Sipra of forward bloc. Mehr Sarfaraz Khan Jappa of PPP won 19,916 votes. Nawaz Bharwana and independent candidates got 21,296 votes. PP-76 Jhang-IV, Ghulam Fareed Khan Naoul with 16,880 votes. Mehr Sultan Sikandar Bharwana of forward bloc won this seat bagging 23,759 votes. Nawab Khurram Abbas Sial of PPP was the runner-up with 17,980 votes. PP-77 Jhang-IV, Dr Abu-ul-Hassan Ansari with 5,235 votes in last election will easily make room for Haji Muhammad Yaqub Sheikh of PML-Qs forward bloc due to his lackluster performance. Yaqoob got 36,486 votes. Zafar Abbas Adil of PPP stood second with 33,554 votes. PP-78 Sargodha, Chudhary Mubashir Abbas Warraich (5084 votes). Again a man with grim performance and PML-N will not have problem supporting Khalid Mehmood Sargana of forward loc who got 27,286 votes. Two independent candidates - Lft Col (R) Ghazanafar Abbas Shah and Zahoor Sajid also performed well in this constituency securing 22,808 and 23,809 votes respectively. PP-84 T T Singh-I, Usman Ali Cheema who obtained 28,844 votes will no more be in the contest to facilitate victory of Bilal Asghar Warraich of forward bloc who got 35,011 votes in the last contest. PP-101 Gujranwala XI, No PML-N candidate was in the run from here in 2008 elections. Khalid Parvaiz Virk of PML-Qs forward bloc won the seat getting 26,885 votes. PP-102 Gujranwala-XII, Again no PML-N candidate contested last election from PP-102. Ch Irfan Bashir Gujjar of forward bloc with 26,992 votes was the winner. Ch Rafaqat Hussain Gujjar and independent candidate was the runner-up with 26,749 votes. PPPs Sarfraz Khan got 20,317. PP-113 Gujrat-VI, Ch Jafar Iqbal with 34,705 votes. He lost by a narrow margin against Mian Tariq Mehmood of forward loc who got 34,924 votes. PP-133 Narowal-II, Waqar Ahmad Chaudhary who got 13,704 votes in last election will not contest this time to pave way for success of Dr Tahir Ali Javed, the ring leader of forward bloc, who won this seat securing 27,508 votes. PP-136 Narowal-V, Abida Raza Saqlain Bukhari who was runner-up in 2008 elections with 15,786 votes. His then rival Col(R) Shujaat Ahmed Khan of forward bloc won the seat getting 17,795 votes. PP-181-Kasur, Mohsan Ali Jahangir Majra with 11,106 votes will not get PML-N ticket in next elections. Sheikh Alaud Din of forward bloc gained victory securing 20,401 votes. Kanwar Mumtaz Hussain of PPP was the runner-up with 17,527 votes. PP-187 Okara-III, Rao Muhammad Safdar Khan with only 6,735 votes showed poor performance in last election. Hence, he can easily be convinced to surrender in favour of Syed Raza Ali Gillani of forward bloc who obtained 30,233 votes. PP-189 Okara-V, Ali Jewika with 15,374 votes. Nadeem Abbas Rabera of forward bloc got 33,298 votes to secure victory. Rao Khalid Khan of PPP got 18,277 votes. PP-204 Multan-XI, Nawab Nadeem-ud-Din with 7,000 votes will support Rana Ejaz Ahmad Noon (32,704 votes) of forward bloc in coming elections. Khurram Fareed of PPP got 22,376 votes. PP-205 Multan-XII, No PML-N candidate contested last election from PP-205. Mehdi Abbas of forward bloc who got 35,739 votes will be PML-N candidate from here as per the understanding reached between the two sides. Malik Ghulam Abbas Khakhi, an independent candidate got 29,523 votes and was the runner-up. PP-206 Mulatn-XIII, Naghma Mushtaq Lang of forward bloc who won last election securing 28,109 votes will be sure candidate of PML-N from this constituency. Barrister Syed Najaf Hussain of PML-N got only 4,632 votes and she is not in a position to lay claim on the seat. Malik Akram Kanhoon, and independent candidate was the runner-up with 26,528 votes. PP-210 Lodhran-V, Syed Muhammad Rafi-ul-Din Bukhari of forward loc with 31,734 votes will again be in the run from here, this time on PML-N ticket. Tahir Ameer Ghori of the same party got only 6,147 votes in 2008. Rana Aslam of PPP was the runner-up with 25,077 votes. PP-211 Lodhran-V, Ahmed Khan Balouch (32,012 votes) of forward bloc will contest instead of Rao Muhammad Nasir of PML-N who obtained 1,104 votes only. Captan (r) Izat Javid of PPP was the runner-up with 31,403 votes. PP-212 Khanewal-I, Syed Ali Akbar Shah of PML-N also performed poorly in the last election as he ended up securing only 6,247 votes as against his main rival Haji Ghulam Jaffar Sargana now part of forward bloc who got 36,391 votes and won. Syed Muhammad Mukhtar Hussain Shah of PPP secured 31,585 votes. PP-216 Khanewal-V, Shehzad Khakwani with 23,972 votes will have to sit down in favour of Amir Hiyat Hiraj of forward bloc who won from this constituency getting 24,144 votes. Pir Mushtaq Shah of PPP obtained 17,048 votes. PP-220 Sahiwal-I, Peer Walayat Shah Khagha of Pakistan Muslim League (24,880 votes), Mehr Nazar Muhammad Fatiana of PML-N with 16,522 votes, Peer Mazhar Ahmed Shah Khagha of PPP 11,081 votes, Peer Muhammad Muzaffar Shah Khagha Independent 12,318 votes, Malik Muhammad Yar Dhakku Independent 10,615 votes. PP-222 Sahiwal-III, Malik Jalalud Din Dhakku of PML 23,249 votes, Muhammad Arshad Malik of PML-N 16,590 votes, Syed Amjad Hussain Shah of PPP 19,896 votes, Syed Shabbar Mustafa Sherazi Independent 16,957 votes. PP-225 Sahiwal-VI, Miss Catherine Nazeer with only 1,706 votes to her credit will easily relinquish the seat for Ch Muhammad Arshad, the winner of 2008 elections. He got 36,398 votes. Rai Murtaza Iqba, an independent candidate obtained 32,216 votes. PP-227-Pakpattan-I, Khalid Saeed with 17,427 votes in last election will surely have to withdraw in favour of Mian Atta Muhammad Maneka, the first ring leader of the forward bloc. He got 36,595 votes in 2008. PP-231 Pakpattan-V, Qamar-ul-Zaman with 15,613 votes will make room for Pir Kashif Ali Chishty (26,790 votes) of the said bloc. PP-241 DG Khan-II, Muneer Ahmed Khan Sabir secured only 4,506 votes in previous contest. Sardar Fatah Muhammad Khan Buzdar with 25,759 votes will again be contesting from here. Khawja Muhammad Nizam-ul-Mehmood of MMA got 22,691 votes. PP-251-Muzaffargarh-I, Muhammad Aslam Hinjra who managed to get 11,699 votes last time will be asked to support Malik Ahmed Yar Hinjra of the forward bloc who won the seat securing 19,913 votes. Malik Yousaf Hinjra of PPP was runner-up with 14,269 votes. Mufti Muhammad Abdul Jaleel of MMA got 14,264 votes. PP-255 Muzaffargarh-V, Abdul Khaliq Khar of PML-N with only 2,583 votes lost to Malik Jawad Kamran Khar of forward bloc who got 21,835 votes. He was closely followed by Sardar Nawazish Ali Khan Kalandrani, and independent candidate and Rana Mehboob Akhtar of PPP who got 21,485 and 21,071 votes respectively. PP-256 Muzaffargarh-VI, Ch Amjad Ali Khan obtained only 4,095 votes in the last electoral battle. It will be better if he supported Muhammad Imran Qureshi (22,842 votes) of forward bloc as per party policy. Nawabzada Mansoor Ahmed Khan of Pakistan Democratic Party got 17,233 votes. PP-267 Bahawalpur-I, Syed Amir Ali Shah with 9,233 votes will withdraw in favour of Makhdoom Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani of forward bloc who won the seat securing 23,578 votes. PP-290 Rahimyar Khan-VI, Ch Sabir Ali who bagged 12,189 votes will be asked to support Ejaz Shafi of the said political group. Shafi obtained 24,751 votes in the last contest followed by Dr Muhammad Sohail Wahid of PPP who remained unlucky as he got 24,520 votes, around 200 votes less than the winner.