PTI loyalists claim they were ignored for electoral tickets

Some claim official candidates may face disgruntled workers as independent candidates

PESHAWAR: Despite having claimed to introduce new faces and young candidates, the third largest political party in the country has apparently ignored party loyalists as it partially handed out tickets for the upcoming general elections on Friday.

For National Assembly slots from Peshawar, only former information minister Shah Farman was awarded a ticket amongst party loyalists. Others who were awarded tickets had recently joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from either the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) or the Awami National Party (ANP).



Disgruntled party members claimed that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had backtracked from his earlier claims of opting for fresh faces and the youth in awarding tickets and had instead handed a shot to ‘electables’ to retain a hold over the province where the party had ruled for five years. This, though, was at the cost of PTI loyalists who have been associated with the party for years.

“Pervez Khattak, Atif Khan, Shah Farman and Ishtiaq Urmar are in the run for chief minister’s slot and have been bringing in their own men which will ultimately end up with costing the PTI a defeat in the upcoming polls,” PTI loyalist and one of its founding members Zahid Mohmand told The Express Tribune after the party announced party tickets on Friday.

For the five national assembly seats in the provincial capital, PTI tickets were awarded to Farman, Noor Alam Khan, Arbab Amir Ayub, Sher Ali Arbab, and Shaukat Ali.

According to Mohmand, every PTI ticket holder for the July 25 general elections is facing a PTI candidate who has decided to contest as an independent candidate.

This, he warned, would divide their votes and ultimately benefit competing parties.

According to senior party leaders, the parliamentary committee which held interviews had refused tickets to its own MPs including Shaukat Yousafzai besides ignoring district Nazim Arbab Asim and former K-P governor Iftikhar Hussain Shah (who has also announced to contest the upcoming polls as an independent candidate).

“This will result in a complete collapse of PTI and I am worried as I fear it will face the same fate as the PML-Q in the past, a total failure,” a PTI senior leader who is also contesting polls said on the condition of anonymity.

Gul Sahib Khan, who had been elected from PK-85 (formerly called PK-40) of District was allegedly ignored this time around, in favour of ANP stalwart Farid Toofan.

Similarly, disgruntled PTI member Amjad Afridi from Kohat was also ignored.



PTI workers warn of revolt if local candidates ignored

As various political parties hand tickets to their candidates for different constituencies ahead of the next general elections, PTI workers are still uncertain whether they will be handed a party ticket or if the ‘parachutes’ be preferred.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers from different constituencies in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) have already expressed their reservations over the distribution of party tickets.

Unsurprising then that former provincial information Shah Farman, the former minister for information has been facing immense resistance from residents of PK-71 since local PTI activists want a candidate to be picked from the constituency, rather than any new entrant to the party.

Locals have made it clear to the local and central leadership of the party that Farman will never be supported. Even if Farman is allowed to contest the elections from PK-71, PTI loyalists from the constituency say they will contest the polls as independent candidates against Farman.

Some party loyalists, including those who have been with the party for over 20 years, have threatened the party chairman of immense resistance should ‘parachutes’ be picked.

“Even if PTI Chairman Imran Khan contests polls from here [PK-73], we will prop up our own candidate as an independent, but will never allow parachutes to contest polls from here [Hayatabad],” was the way PTI senior party member Zahid Mohmand told media officials on Friday, while addressing a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club.

Mohmand, who has been associated with PTI for around two decades, stated that party loyalists will always stick with the party, but will never support someone who has been brought from outside [the area] while talented and educated local candidates are neglected.

He added that they had appeared before a parliamentary board but the former information minister Farman and another former cabinet member Ishtiaq Urmar, never interviewed them.

However, Mohmand said that when the locals resisted the party, the leadership was compelled to withdraw Urmar as a candidate from PK-73 even after submitting his documents.



“I wonder why would somebody, from another constituency, submit his documents from here [referring to Urmar],” Mohmand said, adding, “We will stop former K-P chief minister Pervez Khattak’s and Farman’s conspiracies.”

He further claimed that they had been demanding an independent parliamentary board, but this request had never been addressed as he went on to accuse members of the parliamentary board of awarding tickets to their cherry-picked candidates.

“We just want our voice to be heard and the party’s leadership to take notice,” Mohmand said, adding, “if they were already prepared not to select someone from 32 candidates, why did they collect Rs2 million as party funds [for submitting documents for a ticket].”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2018.