ISLAMABAD: The announcement of candidates for the February 8 elections by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) caused a political buzz on Friday.
Marked by unexpected choices and notable omissions, the surprise selections led to debates regarding the party’s internal dynamics and strategy. Under the leadership of Gauhar Khan, PTI released party tickets for the National Assembly, Punjab Assembly, and Sindh Assembly.
While the party disclosed candidates 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, it refrained from making seat adjustments with former ally Sheikh Rashid.
The decision to withhold a ticket for veteran politician Babar Awan for the Islamabad constituency raised eyebrows, with Ali Bukhari chosen instead of Ilyas Mehrban. In Lahore, the unexpected move resulted in former education minister Shafqat Mahmood withdrawing from the race after being denied a ticket.
Adding to the controversy, PTI directly contested Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in Rawalpindi, fielding candidates against him in both NA-56 and NA-57 instead of forming an alliance, as seen in previous elections. Seemabiya Tahir was chosen to challenge Rashid in NA-57, and Shehryar Riaz in NA-56.
As per 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.
Prominent female candidates who secured 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 candidates for various constituencies, including Jamshed Dasti, Taimoor Malik, Zain Qureshi, Haleem Adil Sheikh, Aleem Adil Sheikh, Alamgir Khan, Tahir Sadiq, Wali Muhammad Mughari, Dr. Masroor Sial, Khalid Mahmood Ali, Advocate Haris Mayo, Faheem Khan, Saifur Rehman, Advocate Zahoor Mehsud, Yasir Baloch, Ramzan Ghachi, Khurram Sher Zaman, Dawa Khan, Advocate Shujaat Khan, Aftab Jahangir, Attaullah Khan, Malik Arif Awan, Tabish Taufiq, Arslan Khalid, Barrister Azir Ghori, and Riaz Haider.
For the Punjab Assembly, PTI issued tickets to 213 candidates, including Qazi Ahmed Akbar, Ijaz Bukhari, Jamshed Altaf, Col (retd) Shabbir Awan, Javed Kausar, Chaudhry Ameer Afzal, Ijaz Khan Jazzi, Raja Rashid Hafeez, Tanveer Aslam, Ali Nasir Bhatti, Raja Tariq Kalas, Tanveer Gondal, Mudassar Machiyana, Ahmad Chhata, Asadullah Arain, and Sikandar Nawaz Bhatti.
The list of candidates in Sindh includes Rajab Jakharan, Saddam Khoso, Irfan Ali, Aftab Soomro, Abdul Jabbar, Khalid Rai, Sajjad Soomro, Deedar Ali, Ashfaq Ahmed, Wahab Kalhoro, Rizwan Ahmad, Abubakar Talpur, Ali Akbar, and Hasan Ali Shah.
For the 51 seats of the Balochistan Assembly, PTI fielded candidates in 30 constituencies, including Gul Khan Qureshi, Haji Hayat Mirzai, Hamad Tariq, Abdul Hasan Nasr, Haji Ashraf Nasr, Nawab Khan Dummar, Zubaidah Khatun, Imdad Hussain, Pir Baksh Jamote, Abdul Razzaq, Qurban Ali, Dr. Parvaiz Ahmed, Naseerullah, Godha Khan, and Sardar Ali Akbar.
(Islamabad51_Newsdesk)
