No lawmaker will be expelled until proven guilty of selling vote, Imran

Party to hold a meeting on today to discuss matters related to the election for the Senate chairman

PESHAWAR: No lawmakers will be expelled from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf unless ‘concrete evidence’ of selling votes in the Senate polls was produced against them, said party chief Imran Khan on Thursday.

“We know who bought votes but we don’t have any concrete evidence against those who sold their votes,” Khan said, while talking to the media at the launch of party’s woman wing memberships. The ceremony was held at the Ladies Club, Peshawar.

The party had constituted a committee that would probe into the matter, he said, adding that any member found guilty of selling vote in the Senate polls would be removed.

But without any strong evidence the party would not take action or cancel membership of any member, Khan clarified.



From the very first day, he said, the PTI was against the secret ballot in the Senate polls as it promoted the culture of buying and selling votes.

The PTI chairman stated that his party had suggested direct elections or nomination of candidates according to how many MPs a party commands in the legislature, the way it is done for the reserved seats. But unfortunately, the major parties did not agree to the proposal and, resultantly, up to Rs40 million were given to buy a single vote in the Senate elections, he added.

The party chief said the party would hold a meeting on Friday (today) to discuss matters related to the election for the Senate chairman. However, he said the PTI would like to see the chairman coming from Balochistan.

Lashing out at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party, Khan said his party would not support any of them in the Senate polls.

To a query, he said several PTI lawmakers belonging to poor families had refused to sell their votes despite having offers of up to Rs40 million.

He announced awarding party tickets for the upcoming elections to all those who turned down offers of huge money in the Senate polls.

Addressing the female members of PTI, the party chairman said he wanted women to give their input on the issues the party should be raising and talking about.

He said the women’s participation was lesser in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as compared to other provinces and that the party would carry out different campaigns to work towards increasing the female voter participation.



He urged the women members to run door-to-door campaigns for the upcoming election.

Later in the Chief Minster House, the party chairman expressed hope that his party would win the next general elections. He vowed to eliminate corruption from the country if his party formed government in the Centre.

“Corruption does not let a country move towards progress and end injustice,” he said.

The Sharif family should fear God’s wrath as Allah does not forgive those who oppress the people, he added.

Earlier in the day, Khan also addressed workers and supporters at Jameel Chowk while visiting various camps for the PTI membership campaign.