Nawaz Sharif's wife to contest from Lahore seat

The wife of ousted Pak PM Nawaz Sharif will contest a special election for the parliamentary seat

Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Friday filed her nomination papers for by-poll to the NA-120 seat that fell vacant after her husband's disqualification on July 28 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 by-polls in September.

After her husband's incarceration following the military coup by Gen 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 Shahbaz 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But the name of Shahbaz was apparently withdrawn after some senior party members apprehended that the PML-N could stand to lose its grip in Punjab in the absence of the younger Sharif.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 by-poll.

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 by-poll scheduled to be held on September 17.

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