ISLAMABAD: Unlike other major political parties, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has not formally invited applications from those aspiring for the party tickets for the upcoming Senate elections and the candidates will be finalised solely on the “recommendations” of members of the recently constituted parliamentary board headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dawn has learnt.

Sources in the party said the first formal meeting of the board was expected to take place on Thursday (today).

Other members of the parliamentary board are Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman and Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood and PTI secretary general Aamir Kayani.

The sources said the members of the board belonging to each province had been asked to recommend the names of probable candidates from their respective provinces, whereas Asad Umar had the main responsibility to make recommendations for the candidates from Islamabad.

Resentment in ruling party over move to award tickets to ‘outsiders’

According to the sources, there has been resentment within the PTI ranks, especially in Punjab and Islamabad, over the reports that the leadership is set to award tickets to some of the people who are considered to be “outsiders”.

A group of the PTI office-bearers and activists from Islamabad on Wednesday held a meeting and made their concerns public by announcing categorically that they would not accept any “imported candidate” on the Senate seats reserved for Islamabad.

The reaction came over the reports that the leadership is considering giving the party ticket to federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh to contest the election on a general seat from Islamabad. Besides Dr Shaikh, the sources said, the leadership was also considering awarding the party tickets to three advisers to the prime minister — Babar Awan, Shahzad Akbar and Abdul Razak Dawood.

After attending the meeting of the party workers and activists from three National Assembly constituencies of Islamabad, a PTI activist and member of Pakistan Baitul Maal Sardar Zahid Akbar said that only a local person had the right to contest the Senate election from Islamabad and “imported candidates” would not be accepted.

PTI’s additional regional secretary general Mustafa Kiani said the workers of Islamabad would not tolerate any candidate from other provinces to get the party ticket from the capital.

The meeting was actually held to support the candidature of PTI’s deputy secretary general Amir Mughal, who is vying for the party ticket.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Mughal confirmed that he aspired to get the party ticket, but said he could not comment on the reports about resentment within the party ranks over the issue. He, however, said that he personally believed that the tickets should be awarded to the local people in all the provinces and Islamabad which was a legal and constitutional requirement.

It may be recalled that both the senators on Islamabad seats who are retiring on March 11 after completing their term do not belong to the federal capital. Raheela Magsi from Sindh and Sardar Yaqoob Nasar from Balochistan are representing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on the two seats.

When contacted, Asad Umar said that despite the fact that they had not sought applications from the aspiring candidates, telephones of the members of the parliamentary board were flooded with messages and requests for the tickets.

Moreover, he said the party’s senior leadership, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, personally knew the party workers at grassroots level.

The minister said there was a possibility that they might consider awarding the tickets to some of those persons who had not even made a request for the party ticket, but the leadership considered them the best people for the Senate.

When asked about the resentment within the party’s chapter in Islamabad, he said such things happened on such occasions. He, however, said that so far Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had not made any request for the Senate ticket from Islamabad.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had invited applications from the aspiring candidates with a bank draft of Rs100,000 and the last date for submission of the application was February 8.

Similarly, the PML-N has invited applications for party tickets by February 15 and each applicant is required to deposit Rs50,000 bank draft with the application.

Asad Umar said the PTI never asked for money for the Senate ticket as the party did not require running any campaign like it had to for the elections of the national and provincial assemblies.

The PTI is set to become the single largest party in the Senate after the upcoming elections in March. However, it will certainly not be able to gain control of the upper house of parliament and will have to rely on its allies and opposition parties even for carrying out simple legislation.

A careful calculation done on the basis of the party position in the National Assembly and all the four provincial legislatures, which form the constituencies for the elections of the members of the upper house, and if all the legislators vote in line with the policy of their respective parties and according to their conscience, the PTI is expected to win 20 seats, followed by six seats each by the PPP and Balochistan Awami Party and five by the PML-N in the upcoming Senate elections.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2021