Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan announced on Saturday that he will review complaints raised by candidates who did not receive nomination tickets for the elections to the Punjab assembly, news agency Dawn reported.
The Dawn also reported that before the former prime minister could begin the review process, the supporters of some of the aspirants began protesting. “I will begin the tickets review process from tomorrow till 26th of cases sent to me by the four Reconciliation Committees that were formed for this purpose,” Khan tweeted.
The Election Commission of Pakistan extended the last date of submission of party tickets until April 26.
The Dawn said that there are disputes on 20% of the seats and 80% of the tickets were handed over to “deserving candidates”.
Decisions on 12 seats remain pending and Imran Khan awarded 285 tickets to candidates. The party received over 1,500 applications. The Dawn citing PTI officials said that the conflict is among candidates who submitted nomination papers for respective constituencies because they felt they were better suited to represent those areas.
Khan on several occasions said he would personally interview candidates before handing them the nomination tickets.
The final list of candidates also left out many big names like – Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Fawad Chaudhry and Hammad Azhar.
The Dawn report said that with these big players out two leaders – newly-inducted PTI president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and Usman Buzdar – are in the pole position to become Punjab province chief minister, if voted to power.
Shahbaz Gill, whose alleged torture at the hands of the police has often been raised by Imran Khan to rouse his party workers, was also denied a ticket.
Four committees have been set up to discuss the complaints raised and recommend adjustments to the final list.
The North Punjab review committee headed by retired brigadier Musadiq Abbasi, Central Punjab review committee headed by senator Ejaz Chaudhry, West Punjab review committee headed by Hassan Nawaz and South Punjab review committee headed by Aon Abbas Bappi will engage the complainants, the Dawn reported.
Imran Khan facilitated the ex-Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid e Azam) (PML-(Q)) group’s leaders and awarded tickets to 10 leaders from the party, whose one faction has now merged with the PTI.
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