PTI changes candidates for nine NA seats

PTI finalises almost 84 per cent of its National Assembly candidates

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has finalised almost 84 per cent of its National Assembly candidates for 229 of the 272 seats of lower house of parliament.

It seems party workers protest over “unjust” distribution of party tickets has also forced the party’s hand, as leadership changed previously announced candidates on some nine NA constituencies, majority of them falling in Punjab.

Additionally, earlier announced tickets for as many as seven NA constituencies have also been withdrawn from candidates, with the party saying “decision on these seats would be made at a later stage”.

On NA-29, previously announced candidate Shah Farman has been replaced by Nasir Khan Musazai. Similarly on NA-84 Dr Amar Ali Hussain Khan has been replaced by Chaudhry Bilal Ijaz; on NA-92, Zafar Ahmad Qureshi has been replaced with Sahibzada Muhammad Qasim Sialvi, and on NA-94 Malik Ehsanullah Tiwana has now replaced Gul Asghar Khan.

Likewise, PTI has also changed candidates on several other constituencies including NA-113 where Riaz Fatyana replaces previously nominated Haider Ali Khan Kharal, NA-162 where Ayesha Nazir Jutt has been replaced with Khalid Mehmood Chohan, and NA-175 where Mobeen Alam has been announced as the party candidate instead of Makhdoom Syed Ahmad Alam. Party nominee from NA-184 has also been changed. In this constituency Syeda Zahira Bukhari has been fielded in place of Basit Bukhari; for NA-264 Sardar Atif Ali Sanjrani has been replaced by Saifullah Khan.



Meanwhile, tickets have been withdrawn from previously announced candidates including Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas (NA-71), Khurrum Shahzad (NA-107), Dr Azimuddin Zahid Lakhvi (NA-139), Sardar Talib Nakai (NA-140), Syed Sumsam Ali Bokhari (NA-141), Mian Abdur Rasheed (NA-169), and Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah (NA-228). Final decision on these seven constituencies will be announced later, a party spokesperson said.

In addition to his hometown in Multan, PTI vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi will also contest elections from NA-220 Umerkot and NA-221 Tharparkar.

In first phase of tickets distribution, PTI on June 8 announced candidates for 173 out of 272 total NA seats though a total of 16 changes had been made to that list while today, it has announced 67 new candidates for as many constituencies.

Former PTI MNA Ali Muhammad Khan has also been allotted ticket from Mardan’s NA-22. He was ignored in the first stage of distribution.

Despite angry protests from party workers Nadia Aziz from Sargodha has also obtained party ticket. Apparently senior party leader Jahangir Khan Tareen also managed a decision in favour of Sikandar Bosan, who will be party candidate from NA-154 Multan.



A new entrant to party Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiyar has been awarded tickets from two NA constituencies including NA-176 and NA-177. Previously he was given ticket only for NA-177. Former chairman Senate Mian Muhammad Soomro, who joined PTI earlier this month, will be a candidate from NA-196 Jacobabad. Due to adjustments on some seats with PML-Q, PTI has not fielded its candidates in some constituencies of Jhelum and Gujrat.

Some 13 tickets out of 229 finalised ones are given to women candidates.

Despite rumors, PTI did not withdraw its previously announced candidate Ghulam Sarwar Khan from NA-59 and NA-63 against disgruntled PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar. But apparently giving a slight favour to Nisar, the party has not fielded any runner for PP-10 (Rawalpindi) from where Chaudhry Nisar will also be contesting.

The party spokesperson said candidates on the remaining seats will be finalised and announced soon. He added that current list was finalised following review on all appeals which were filed earlier by party workers and leaders against out-of-merit allotment of party tickets.

Provincial assemblies

PTI has also announced its candidates for provincial assemblies of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Candidates are announced on 77 per cent seats of all provincial assemblies, that is ticket holders are announced for 443 out of total 577 provincial assembly seats.

Out of total 99 KP assembly seats candidates have been announced on 90 seats, out of 297 Punjab Assembly seats candidates are finalised on 238. Likewise, 79 candidates are given tickets for 130 Sindh Assembly seats, and for 51 Balochistan assembly seats candidates are finalised on 36 constituencies.