PTI to hold US-style primaries

PTI is going to launch a massive membership drive to make the party’s 4 million members an Electoral College.

LAHORE: As Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) gears itself for the upcoming general elections, the party is holding intra party elections to elect election candidates.

In a US-style candidate nomination and ticket-awarding process, PTI aims to introduce local caucuses on district levels throughout the country. Aspiring candidates would undertake debates and undergo primaries to win a party ticket for contesting on Provincial Assembly or National Assembly seats.

PTI will also launch a massive membership drive with the target being four million registered members for their electoral college.

The members of the caucus in turn will send a candidate for national and provincial assembly elections.

The new party constitution, which is still on the drawing board, envisages the details of the local caucuses and Electoral College. At the moment PTI has almost 800,000 basic members.

“No matter, how high-profile a politician is, a ticket is not guaranteed unless the local caucus awards him the nomination,” said Andleeb Abbas, PTI information secretary.

The members of this Electoral College will be picked during the membership drive from every union council of the country.

Meanwhile the much-awaited constitution of the party is being debated by the central executive committee of the party and will be released in two weeks.

The party is also going to launch an Insaf Professional Forum on March 19 in Lahore that would include top professionals from Punjab and it would serve as an advisory board on the technical matters. Moreover, PTI Chairman Imran Khan is going to launch a public contact drive in the south Punjab which would span across three days during which Khan would address public rallies in Mailsi, Muzzaffargarh, Khanewal and Bahawalnagar. On March 23, Khan would address a public rally in Sialkot.

On April 8, the party has planned a big public rally in Abbottabad for which preparations are under way. During the rally Khan is expected to take a position on the formation of Hazara province. The PTI bandwagon is going to Quetta on April 20 for what is billed to be the biggest public gathering thus far.

Details of the rally are being worked out by the committee headed by PTI Balochistan President Qasim Suri.

PTI expects to attract dissident Baloch nationalist leaders to the rally. The party wants to turn this event in Quetta as a major step towards unifying Baloch leaders back into the national fold. To achieve this objective Khan had been in touch with the Baloch leaders and that is why the party has kept postponing its Quetta show.