ISLAMABAD: As Senate elections draw close, top leaders in the ruling party are worried that disgruntled members of their party may yet prove to be their undoing.

Riled up by what many felt was an unfair distribution of tickets, many unsuccessful candidates are said to have refused to campaign for their party colleagues, causing worries that the party may not win the expected number of seats in the upper house of parliament.

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In background discussions, party sources privy to the brewing frustration said that in the current scenario, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the party would be lucky if it could get all its candidates into the Senate.

“Discrimination” in the selection process and the sidelining of several party heavyweights has caused widespread resentment among the PML-N’s rank and file, insiders told Dawn.

“Of the 172 applicants for Senate tickets, a parliamentary board of the party proposed only 35 to 40 names to the leadership for final selection. To the shock of many board members, however, the party leadership awarded tickets to those who didn’t make the list,” a participant of the board meetings told Dawn.