PM faults ‘wrong candidates selection’ for LG poll fiasco

Says he will personally oversee poll strategy from now on

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR:

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday admitted that the PTI had made ‘mistakes’ in the first phase of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s local government elections and pinned the blame on "wrong candidate selection”, a day after his party lost several seats in the province and created a situation where it needed to do some soul searching.

The premier took to his official Twitter handle to admit that his party had “paid the price” for its mistakes and wrote that he would “personally” be overseeing PTI’s LG election strategy in the second phase of K-P’s local body polls as well as those held across the country. The premier’s tweet came in the wake of the ruling PTI suffering a major blow as the JUI-F cruised to victory with its candidate grabbing the pivotal post of the Peshawar mayor in the first phase of the local government elections held in K-P since the merger of tribal districts.

PTI made mistakes in 1st phase of KP LG elections & paid the price. Wrong candidate selection was a major cause. From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI's LG election strategy in 2nd phase of KP LG elections & LG elections across Pak. InshaAllah PTI will come out stronger

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 21, 2021

The ruling party faced startling setbacks in most areas with the candidates of the opposition parties managing to defeat its nominees. The PTI lost the Peshawar mayor seat to the JUI-F with a wide margin. According to the unofficial results, JUI-F's Zubair Ali won with a margin of around 11,500 votes after securing 62,388, whereas PTI's Rizwan Bangash received 50,669 votes and PPP's Zarak Arbab got 45,000 votes.

K-P Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has sought a report on the reasons for the party’s lackluster performance in the LG elections. The PTI has decided to take major action and demanded a list of its lawmakers, who did not support the party’s candidates. It has been decided to issue notices to these lawmakers in the first phase and then contact the premier for further action.

Read: PTI, PML-Q discuss alliance for LG polls

“Action will be taken against those [PTI lawmakers] who go against the party,” Provincial Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said. “There will be no compromise on party discipline.” Separately, Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet urged the PTI leadership and workers to set aside their differences and unite under PM Imran's leadership.

"If the PTI is weakened at this time then the country will fall to the wolves," Fawad wrote. Later while addressing a news conference, the information minister said it would be unfortunate for the country if Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s JUI-F and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) came into power.

The rise of these "religious extremist" political parties would ultimately harm the country, he added.
The minister conceded that the party suffered a setback in the local body elections in K-P because of “administrative problems”. “What else could be expected if three to four persons from one party contested elections in the same constituency? Ultimately, it would result in defeat in elections.”

He claimed that the JUI-F could not be substitute of the PTI, whereas the PML-N and PPP had no place in national politics. “The PTI is the only national party in the country.” Minister of State for Information and broadcasting Farrukh Habib maintained that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz should be ashamed of her party’s humiliating defeat in the local government elections in K-P.

“She [Maryam] should admit her defeat with [an] open heart as her party remained on the last number in KP-LG polls,” Farrukh said in a statement. The state minister said after facing losing elections of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the PML-N had been rejected by the people of K-P as well.
“There is a lack of leadership in PML-N as it has split into factions because of internal rift.”

He further said there was no competition between the PTI and the JUI-F as the latter was a party of union council level.

(With input from APP)