Local polls: PTI to start voter registration drive: Aleem

Aleem Khan says the party will form district-level cells to keep its candidates abreast with election affairs

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf will establish special cells at its district headquarters across the province to regularly update its candidates as well as the public on matters pertaining to the upcoming local elections, Abdul Aleem Khan said on Tuesday.

He was addressing a gathering of party workers.

Khan, a political adviser to PTI chairman Imran Khan, said the party had finalised its plan for local elections. He said in the first phase PTI district chapters would organise voter registration campaigns in their constituencies. He said workers had been asked to ensure availability of updated voters’ lists at the party offices.

Khan said a legal team was reviewing the amended draft of the Local Government Ordinance issued by the provincial government. “We cannot let the government get away with a misdeed. I suspect that the draft has been prepared to suit the interests of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in the elections,” he said.



Khan called upon party workers to learn from their mistakes during Cantonment Board elections. “You should maintain unity in your ranks,” he advised them. In particular, he said the party needed to focus its energies on its campaign in Lahore. He said Shafqat Mahmood and Mahr Wajid Azeem were leading a team for selection of candidates in the city and hoped that they would uphold merit in allotment of party tickets.

PTI Punjab deputy organiser Umar Sarfaraz Cheema said the party had been demanding local elections in the country since 2008. “Merit will be the only criterion for allotment of party tickets. If we remain united and put together an impressive campaign, there is no reason why we cannot sweep the elections in the Punjab,” he said.

Later, Shoaib Siddiqi briefed the gathering about changes introduced recently in the electoral process including new format of ballot papers.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2015.