Party leaders upset at being ignored for tickets

Question criterion on which new entrants were awarded tickets

PESHAWAR: It seems the claims of PTI of bringing a change has come true with many of the party old guard claiming to have been ignored for party tickets in the provincial metropolis, with the party allegedly preferring to bring to the fore those who had recently joined the party.

For the five national assembly seats in the Peshawar District, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has awarded tickets to former Pakistan People Party (PPP) lawmaker Noor Alam Khan from NA-27 (previously Peshawar-I), former Awami National Party (ANP) member Arbab Amir Ayub for NA-28 Peshawar-II, former PTI information minister Shah Farman for NA-29 Peshawar-III, Sher Ali Arbab for NA-30 Peshawar-IV and Shaukat Ali for NA-31 Peshawar-V.

However, these selections came at the expense of senior party leaders Engineer Hamidul Haq, Sajid Nawaz Khan and Gul Bacha.



“The PTI parliamentary board decisions regarding the award of tickets to new entrants has disappointed the party’s loyal and long-standing members,” stated a senior lawmaker, who did not wish to be named.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, the lawmaker added that most grass-root party workers in Peshawar have threatened to quit the party after loyal and senior members of the party were overlooked for electoral tickets.

The lawmaker added that the move to award tickets to new entrants was seen as rewarding those who are not even sincere with their parties and defected when a better opportunity presented itself.

He added that it seems difficult for the party to win the upcoming elections by banking on these new candidates since the town and union council members of the party in several constituencies have decided to not support these ‘parachutes’.

Haq is a long-time member of PTI and had contested the 2013 general elections on the party’s ticket. He had been elected form NA-2 Peshawar after bagging 79,125 votes, beating off competition from the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) in the process.

Also ignored for a party ticket this time around is MNA Sajid Nawaz Khan. He had secured 66,528 votes in the 2013 elections, beating Haji Ghulam Ali of JUI-F to the seat in the 2013 elections.



Gul Bacha another stalwart of the party and who has been active in all party matters has been ignored as well. In the last general elections, the party had handed him a ticket but he failed to dislodge Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haji Ghulam Bilour from NA-1.

This time around, the party has decided to award the ticket to Noor Alam Khan, who recently joined the party after quitting the PPP.

Talking to The Express Tribune former PTI MNA Haq said that he was quite disappointed with the party leadership.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2018.