Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) president Shahbaz Sharif stood elected unopposed to the Punjab Assembly from a constituency after other candidates formally withdrew from the contest, party sources said.
His uncontested election, still to be formally notified by the election commission, came in the constituency in the town of Bhakkar in Punjab province.
The sources said the PML-N president, younger brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has decided to withdraw his candidatures from three other provincial constituencies following his unopposed election.
The party has already announced that Shahbaz would become chief minister of the key province after being elected to the provincial assembly. Dost Mohammad Khosa from PML-N is chief minister of the provincial coalition government formed with the Pakistan People's Party.
Nawaz Sharif is to run for a National Assembly seat in a Lahore constituency in the by-elections to be held on June 26 to fill dozens of vacant seats in the federal and provincial assemblies.
Cleared by commission
The candidatures of the brothers were cleared by the election commission on Sunday after an election tribunal made up of two judges of the Lahore gave a split verdict on the electoral eligibility of the two top PML-N leaders.
The PML-N is the second largest party in the National Assembly after PPP. It is part of the federal ruling coalition led by PPP.
The relations between the two major parties have come under strain over reinstatement of judges deposed by President Pervez Musharraf last year that led to withdrawal of all nine PML-N ministers from the federal cabinet last month.
