RAWALPINDI, June 1: Its official now. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan will represent Rawalpindi in the National Assembly.

This decision was announced during PTI’s parliamentary committee meeting in the National Assembly on Saturday.

The meeting was presided over by senior PTI leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. Imran Khan was elected member of the National Assembly (MNA) from Rawalpindi, Mianwali and Peshawar constituencies in May 11 elections.

The PTI chairman will become the first leader in the country who will not be representing his hometown in the assembly.

Former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairperson Benazir Bhutto had won three seats in the 1988 elections from Lahore, Karachi and Larkana, but ended up retaining Larkana seat.

Similarly Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif had won two seats from NA-68 Sargodha and NA-120 Lahore constituencies. However he has vacated Sargodha seat, preferring to represent his hometown Lahore.

Imran Khan contested the NA-56 constituency in Rawalpindi, and defeated PML-N candidate Hanif Abbasi. Imran secured 80,425 votes while Abbasi managed to get 67,167 votes. The results showed that Imran Khan won with a margin of 13,258 votes.

Under law, the PTI chairman is bound to retain only one seat. Soon after the election, Imran Khan hinted at quitting the Peshawar seat, but deciding on which of the other two seats he would retain, turned out difficult for him.

On one hand, there was Mianwali, the hometown of Imran, while on the other there was Rawalpindi’s NA-56 constituency which had always been a PML-N stronghold. Imran had managed to break into the stronghold and win the seat.

As put by a PTI insider, Imran and many others in the party feared losing Rawalpindi seat if it was vacated and by-elections were held there.

The trend has been that the party in power always wins the by-polls, and since PML-N has emerged as a major party both in the National and Punjab assemblies, chances of PTI winning the by-elections are slim.

The PTI has already expressed its concern over rigging, especially in 25 seats of the National Assembly, and fear that the PML-N-influenced local administration in Rawalpindi might play a role in enabling PML-N win back the NA-56 seat.

As far as Mianwali is concerned, PTI could not find a suitable candidate who would contest the by-polls, but after Ayla Malik consented, the party recommended its chairman to vacate the seat.

Ayla Malik, the granddaughter of Nawab of Kalabagh Malik Amir Khan, has the support of her clan as well as the local people in Mianwali. PTI is therefore confident that it would be able to retain the Mianwali seat.

PTI leader and MNA Shafqat Mehmood, while talking to Dawn, said: “There is no specific reason PTI Chairman Imran Khan is vacating his hometown seat. However the residents of Rawalpindi had insisted that Imran retain NA-56 seat and represent them in the National Assembly.”

He said the PTI chief was interested in keeping Mianwali seat but on the insistence of people from Rawalpindi he has decided to represent them in the National Assembly.

To a question, Shafqat Mehmood said: “Yes, there is a fear of rigging in the by-elections as it happened in May 11 elections. There was rigging in 25 constituencies and PTI had raised its voice against it.”

He said there was no hard and fast rule of retaining the hometown seat in the National Assembly.

“The voters from the three constituencies have expressed their confidence in Imran Khan, and now it is his decision as to which seat he retains. He has opted to represent Rawalpindi in the National Assembly,” he said.