PTI stirs political pot with surprise candidate selections

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) caused a political stir on Friday with its announcement of candidates for the February 8 elections. The surprise selections, marked by notable omissions and unexpected choices, fueled debates on the party's strategy and internal dynamics.Under the leadership of Gauhar Khan, PTI issued party tickets for the National Assembly, Punjab Assembly, and Sindh Assembly. While candidates were announced for 233 out of 266 general seats in the National Assembly, 213 out of 297 general seats in the Punjab Assembly, and 122 out of 130 general seats in the Sindh Assembly, the party notably refrained from making seat adjustments with former ally Sheikh Rashid.

The decision not to grant a ticket to veteran politician Babar Awan for the Islamabad constituency raised eyebrows, with Ali Bukhari chosen instead of Ilyas Mehrban. In Lahore, the surprising move saw former education minister Shafqat Mahmood withdraw from the race after being denied a ticket.

Adding to the controversy, PTI went head-to-head with Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in Rawalpindi, fielding candidates against him in both NA-56 and NA-57, instead of forming an alliance as in previous elections. Seemabiya Tahir was chosen to challenge Rashid in NA-57, and Shehryar Riaz in NA-56.According to the PTI announcement, Chairman Barrister Gauhar Khan will contest from NA-10, Latif Khosa from NA-122, Shoaib Shaheen from NA-47, and Salman Akram Raja Advocate from NA-128. Retained candidates from the previous parliament include Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Yasmin Rashid, Omar Ayub, Murad Saeed, Ali Muhammad Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur, Shehryar Afridi, and Asad Qaiser.

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Prominent female candidates, who got the PTI tickets, include Alia Hamza from NA-118 Lahore; Kanwal Shuzab from NA-166, Bahawalpur;  Shanda Gulzar from NA-30, Peshawar; Rehana Dar, mother of Usman Dar, from NA-71, Sialkot and Zartaj Gul, NA-185, Dera Ghazi Khan.

The PTI list includes, Jamshed Dasti, NA-175; Taimoor Malik, NA-148 Multan, Zain Qureshi, , NA-150; Haleem Adil Sheikh , NA-238, Aleem Adil Sheikh NA-232; Alamgir Khan, NA-236; Tahir Sadiq, NA-49; Wali Muhammad Mughari, NA-229; Dr Masroor Sial, NA-230; Khalid Mahmood Ali, NA-231; Advocate Haris Mayo, NA-233; and Faheem Khan, NA-234; Saifur Rehman, NA-235; Advocate Zahoor Mehsud, NA-237; Yasir Baloch, NA-239; Ramzan Ghachi, NA-240; Khurram Sher Zaman NA-241; Dawa Khan, NA-242 Advocate Shujaat Khan, NA-243; Aftab Jahangir, NA-244, Attaullah Khan, NA-245; Malik Arif Awan, NA-245; Tabish Taufiq, NA-247; Arslan Khalid, NA-248; Barrister Azir Ghori, NA-249; and Riaz Haider, NA-250.

Party tickets were issued to 213 candidates for Punjab Assembly. They include; Qazi Ahmed Akbar, PP-1; Ijaz Bukhari, PP-3; Jamshed Altaf, PP-5; Col (retd) Shabbir Awan, PP-7; Javed Kausar, PP-8; Chaudhry Ameer Afzal, PP-10; Ijaz Khan Jazzi PP-16; Raja Rashid Hafeez PP-17; Tanveer Aslam, PP-19; Ali Nasir Bhatti, PP-20; Raja Tariq Kalas, PP-21; Tanveer Gondal, PP-30; Mudassar Machiyana, PP-31; Ahmad Chhata, PP-36; Asadullah Arain, PP-37; and Sikandar Nawaz Bhatti, PP-38.

The list of candidates in Sindh incudes Rajab Jakharan, PS-1; Saddam Khoso, PS-2; Irfan Ali, PS-3; Aftab Soomro, PS-7; Abdul Jabbar, PS-8; Khalid Rai, PS-107; Sajjad Soomro, PS-106; Deedar Ali, PS-73; Ashfaq Ahmed, PS-71; Wahab Kalhoro, PS-32; Rizwan Ahmad, PS-33; Abubakar Talpur, PS-69; Ali Akbar, PS-70; and Hasan Ali Shah, PS-72.

For the 51 seats of Balochistan Assembly, the PTI fielded candidates in 30 constituencies. They are: Gul Khan Qureshi, PB-1; Haji Hayat Mirzai, PB-3; Hamad Tariq, PB-4; Abdul Hasan Nasr, PB-5; Haji Ashraf Nasr, PB-6; Nawab Khan Dummar, PB-7; Zubaidah Khatun, PB-8; Imdad Hussain, PB-11; Pir Baksh Jamote, PB-12; Abdul Razzaq, PB-13; Qurban Ali, PB-14; Dr Parvaiz Ahmed, PB-15; Naseerullah, PB-16; Godha Khan, PB-17; and Sardar Ali Akbar, PB-30.