PTI plans to invite public input on party tickets

Imran Khan led party is likely to announce formation of its parliamentary board next month

ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will elicit input from the public on picking party candidates at the next general elections.

Moreover, PTI is also considering evolving a comprehensive mechanism for the inclusion of public opinion in the finalisation of its potential candidates in constituencies across the country.

“Discussions are being held in this regard ... But a final decision will be taken after the decision in the Panamagate case is announced,” said a senior party leader.

In the 2013 general elections, PTI’s parliamentary board – and in some cases senior party leaders and its chairman – had finalised the candidates.



Apart from the input of Imran Khan and the party’s parliamentary board, the PTI leader said, this time public opinion would be given equal consideration in this regard.

However, how the mechanism will be evolved and made part of the whole process has not been decided yet.

“A constituency’s registered voters input will be given 33 per cent weightage in the award of ticket to an individual candidate,” the leader explained.

PTI is expected to announce the formation of the party’s parliamentary board next month.

After finalising ticket holders, their wealth details will be displayed at the party’s official website, he said, adding that preference would be given to candidates who performed well during the 2013 elections in the K-P and Punjab.

A few days ago, during an informal interaction with the media persons, Imran Khan claimed that the PTI had a plan for the next general elections.



“Today, we are well aware of the kind of candidates our party requires for urban and rural constituencies and for Sindh and Balochistan,” Imran was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

The PTI chairman admitted that his party had jumped into the 2013 elections without any preparation because of a faulty intra-party election held just before the vote.

“In the previous elections, 80 per cent of PTI candidates had no experience of contesting elections. But the situation will be different this time.”

At present, Imran said, he would personally finalise the candidates and PTI had already begun searching for potential candidates.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2017.