Election campaign: PTI to launch mass contact after Muharram

PTI spokesman says ruling parties using state resources for campaigns.

LAHORE:

The senior leadership of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will start a mass contact campaign after Muharram and continue it till the general elections, a senior party leader said.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan, Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and President Javed Hashmi would visit various parts of the country for public gatherings and rallies as well as meetings with local office bearers, said PTI Information Secretary Shafqat Mehmood.

He said that the party leaders would inform the general public about the PTI’s manifesto and its commitment to changing the country, said Mehmood. The main aim would be to win support for the party in the upcoming elections.

The PTI will hold a meeting soon to decide the final strategy for the mass contact campaign, including which leader would visit which area, he said. Once the schedule for the general elections is announced, he said, the party leaders would campaign together in various regions.

Asked about funding for the campaign, Mehmood said the PTI could not match the ruling parties, which he alleged were using official resources in their election campaigns. He said that surveys showed that the public thought of the ruling parties as corrupt and inefficient and the PTI would exploit that in its campaign.

The PTI spokesman said that of the 62,500 eligible voters for party elections in Islamabad, 32,000, had voted. He said that this 51 per cent turnout was unprecedented in the history of Pakistan and belied stories that the PTI was losing popularity. The PTI will prove that it is not a dynastic political party but a democratic party, Mehmood added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2012.