PPP to contest by-polls in Poonch.

Byline: Tariq Naqash

MUZAFFARABAD -- Unlike other parties, including the ruling PML-N, the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has decided to contest the upcoming by-election in Poonch on Dec 30.

The decision was taken by the PPP on Wednesday at a meeting in Islamabad which was presided over by party's regional president Chaudhry Latif Akbar.

A participant told Dawn that Sardar Yaqoob Khan, a former AJK president and prime minister, would be their candidate from LA-19, Poonch-III - a seat that fell vacant on Nov 4 due to the death of Jammu Kashmir People's Party (JKPP) chief Sardar Khalid Ibrahim.

Mr Ibrahim had lost the June 2011 election to Mr Khan of the PPP from this constituency by around 10,000 votes.

After Mr Khan's elevation as AJK president in Aug 2011, Mr Ibrahim did not contest by-election which saw Farzana Yaqoob replacing her father in the assembly.

In the July 2016 general elections, Mr Ibrahim defeated Ms Yaqoob of the PPP by around 10,000 votes as an ally of the PML-N.

However, within two weeks of the elections, Mr Ibrahim switched over to opposition benches after developing differences with the PML-N over the latter's support to PPP in elections against one of the five reserved seats for women and nomination of an 'apolitical person' (Sardar Masood Khan) for the president's office.

After the sudden death of Mr Ibrahim due to brain haemorrhage, there were calls from different quarters that any of his family members should be elected unopposed.

Though the JKPP was yet to announce its candidate for the by-election, it was...