ISLAMABAD - Former president Asif Ali Zardari has asked his Pakistan People’s Party leaders to stop defections as the party goes into the July 25 polls as an underdog in the Punjab province.

Close aides to the PPP co-chairman told The Nation that the PPP supremo had tasked his party leaders to catch the potentially-electables who were likely to quit the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz after the final ticket distribution.

The close aides said that Zardari was hoping to gain some ground in Punjab as he bids to become a player after the July 25 polls.

One PPP leader said: “There will be some potential electables who might quit other parties after the distribution of the tickets. We are eyeing them.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, chief justice (retd) Nasirul Mulk took the oath as the caretaker prime minister to conduct the July 25 polls.

Later, the caretaker prime minister said that the general polls will be conducted on time at any cost. He also announced to minimize the membership of the cabinet.

Mulk’s name was announced at a joint presser by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khurshid Shah along with former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq and some ministers on May 28..

PPP leaders said that party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had asked the Punjab chapter of the party to check defections.

Nadeem Afzal Chan was the last known addition to the list of PPP leaders who joined the Imran Khan-led PTI in Punjab as the general election approached. His family members had already quit the PPP in favour of the PTI.

Earlier, Nazar Mohammed Gondal and Firdous Ashiq Awan parted ways with the PPP. They have gathered under former PPP stalwart Shah Mehmood Qureshi who is now the PTI’s second-in-command.

Punjab was once a stronghold of the PPP during the peak of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto but it slowly drifted away to the right-wing or pro-right parties. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has been firmly in control of the province over the recent past.

The province, with a bigger population than all the other provinces combined, is effectively the ‘king-maker’ with scores of the National Assembly seats at hand.

Even in the last elections, the PML-N came to power riding over the popularity wave in Punjab. In other provinces, its performance was insignificant.

Bilawal had aimed to do well in Punjab in this year’s elections after a poor performance in 2013 but this could prove to be an uphill task.

PPP central Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira said the defections were damaging for any party. “It is, of course, dispiriting that some electables have joined other parties but this is not the end of the road. We still have the ability to fight well,” he said.

PPP South Punjab General Secretary Natasha Daultana said that the PPP was improving in rural Punjab and will clinch seats in the July 25 polls. “You can’t rule out the PPP. We have made comebacks in the past and we will still do that. She said defections were part of Pakistan’s political culture but the PPP will contest polls with the available candidates.

Daultana said no party wanted defections before the polls but “you will soon see so many of them returning to the PPP.”