By Xinhua
Islamabad : Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif will take part in the by-elections scheduled in June, seeking an entry in parliament, media reports said Friday.
“By-elections for 30 national and provincial seats will be held on the same day. Polling would be held in the first week of June,” the News daily quoted official sources as saying.
Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq will announce the schedule of by-election next week, said the newspaper and added that Sharif, leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and several other political leaders will take part in the by-elections.
But the newspaper did not mention whether Asif Ali Zardari, co-chairman of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), would contest in the by-elections.
The PPP and PML-N, after the Feb 18 parliamentary elections, formed the ruling coalition, which also include two small parties.
But Sharif and Zardari, widower of assassinated PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, were stopped from contesting in the elections over corruption charges levelled against them.
Sharif, who was overthrown by the then chief of army Musharraf in 1999 in a bloodless coup, was allowed to come back home from exile last year.