ISLAMABAD: As the upcoming general elections draw near, imprisoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan revealed on Saturday that he was unaware of the distribution of party tickets among the candidates.
Imran Khan made these remarks during an interaction with party workers in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail after the hearing of the Toshakhana case, for which he is currently incarcerated.
Internal divisions surfaced within the troubled PTI after reports suggested that the former ruling party had bypassed merit and allocated tickets to former lawmakers and influential personalities.
Inside the jail premises, PTI workers registered complaints against the “unfair” distribution of tickets with the party’s founder.
Earlier this month, dozens of PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter leaders and supporters staged a protest against the “unfair” distribution of party tickets, accusing the party of engaging in the “sale of party tickets” in KP.
Responding to questions about the “unfair” distribution of party tickets, Imran Khan told his supporters, “I don’t know who got the ticket and who didn’t. I was not allowed to consult about the distribution of party tickets.” He explained that he couldn’t verbally decide about 850 tickets.
Meanwhile, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, a member of Imran’s legal team, conveyed workers’ concerns over the controversial ticket allotment to the PTI founder.
Marwat, taking to his social media handle, mentioned that Imran had announced the withdrawal of disputed tickets.
According to a report , ticket allocations for the upcoming general elections sparked uproar within the PTI, particularly in KP, where influential party leaders, some eyeing the position of chief minister, were denied provincial seats and given National Assembly (NA) tickets.
PTI sources revealed that all influential contenders for the KP chief ministership had been allocated NA tickets to pave the way for Ali Amin Gandapur as the possible chief minister of KP if the party wins the elections.
One party leader, closely observing the infighting within the PTI, confided that this was a clash between the PTI’s establishment and an overambitious faction.
The report highlighted allegations of irregularities in ticket allocations in almost a dozen cases, with leaders like Asad Qasier, Atif Khan, Shah Farman, Shahram Tarakai, Junaid Khan, and Sheheryar Khan Afridi not being allotted KP Assembly tickets. They were asked by the party to contest for the NA only, though it is not confirmed whether any of them eventually received the KP Assembly ticket.
The leaders protested, citing their seniority in the party and expressing no-confidence in the ticket allocation exercise to the founder chairman of PTI, Imran Khan.
A day earlier, the former ruling party announced its intention to field candidates on all 266 National Assembly seats across Pakistan, with several constituencies marked ‘pending’ due to differences of opinion in naming candidates.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
