'afraid i don’t know too much about Pakistani politics, but would someone please show some patience towards me and let me know how the following works:
[Aziz] is standing in not one, but two constituencies - which he and his backers hope will ensure success. Observers say both seats are considered safe for Mr Aziz. (Source)
Since he is running in two constituencies, of course the law must allow for that. Just wondering - is this commonly done, where an individual would run for two seats not one? i don’t know why, it just strikes me as being kindof odd. The only politics i understand is really that of Canada’s, and as far as i can remember (although i might be mistaken), i can’t remember a politician running for more than one seat at any one given time. Is this common though, i could be VERY wrong. If it is common, who did it before him and was that individual successful?
Its an interesting question. However, I don't know whether we have or as to what the provision is in the constitution with regard to fighting election frm two seats. But if you have a look at the elections so far, I guess we do have a system whereby one person can contest elections from two seats.
Sheikh Rashid did that in 2002 from two seats in Rawalpindi if I am not wrong and then Bushra Imam of PML (Q) also contested from two constituencies.
its actually quite common. Imran Khan contested from two seats. Mostly party leaders contest from two or more places to ensure that they do not humiliate the whole party by losing.
Actually I think people can run from up to 4 different constituencies, and the reason, as ravage said, is to ensure an election for the bigwigs of the party and avoid embarrasment...eg, Mian Azhar losing his election bid in the last election, despite being PML chief, after which he gave way to Chaudry Shujaat.
^ absolutely right. I mean I don't know about contesting elections from four constituencies but yes primarily it is to avoid embarrasment and this was the reason given for Sheikh Rasheed's decision to contest from two separate seats, when he wasn't given party ticket by PML-N.