PTI decides to approach ECP if no consensus reached over Punjab CM

Imran Khan-led party all set to launch an 'aggressive' campaign for forthcoming general elections

KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided on approaching the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) if they failed to reach a consensus with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on the caretaker Punjab chief minister.

Months before the general elections, the party has decided to play aggressively for the upcoming polls with the main focus on countering their opponents — the ruling PML-N party and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PTI has prepared a separate electoral and political strategy for every province, which mainly focuses on countering the PPP in Sindh and the PML-N's electoral alliance in Punjab, with seat adjustment in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa (K-P) and Balochistan with like-minded parties.



PTI Chairman Imran Khan has tasked Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other party leaders to contact like-minded parties for seat adjustments. However, the PTI would still prefer to support independents where its own candidates are not viable.

The PTI has also decided to start a mass contact campaign from next month and instructed district leaders to prepare a schedule of public meetings to be addressed by Imran.

The opposition party has agreed against forming an electoral alliance both at the national and provincial level. Meanwhile, the PTI has also decided to take into its folds the disgruntled leaders of PML-N and has asked its leaders to contact such political figures.

The party has also decided that the PPP and the PML-N will not be allowed to make any convenient arrangement about the caretaker setup and will soon give its proposals for a caretaker prime minister to the opposition leader.

PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry told Express News that Imran will announce the election campaign in Lahore on April 29 meeting. The strategy has been made which will be announced after consultations with opposition parties.