ISLAMABAD: After weeks of deliberations in the wake of protests over the issue of award of party tickets, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday finally issued a complete list of its candidates for the National Assembly and all the four provincial assemblies for the July 25 elections.

The list released by the party’s central media department shows that the PTI is fielding its candidates in 229 constituencies, out of 272 general seats, of the National Assembly, with party chairman Imran Khan himself contesting from five constituencies.

Earlier, the party had announced its candidates on some seats of the national and provincial assemblies, but the leadership later withheld the announcement on some seats after a strong reaction from the party workers and members who were angry over the decision of awarding most of the tickets to new entrants.

Thousands of the party workers staged a sit-in outside the Banigala residence of Mr Khan in Islamabad asking the leadership to review its decision in some constituencies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Many newcomers succeed in gaining ticket; complaints in some cases addressed

Most party workers who staged the protest outside Mr Khan’s residence were from Multan who were opposed to the award of ticket to Sikandar Bosan, who remained in the cabinet of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi till May 31 — the last day of the PML-N government in the office.

The protest also exposed the rift within the PTI when vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and former secretary general Jahangir Tareen made some verbal attacks against each other in public as well as private gatherings. Sources said that those belonging to Mr Tareen’s camp believed that it was Mr Qureshi who had instigated the workers from Multan to stage the sit-in.

Mr Qureshi, however, denies the charge and recently stated that he had no dispute with a person who could not even contest the elections — an indirect reference to Mr Tareen’s disqualification by the Supreme Court.

Speaking to the agitating workers, Imran Khan on several occasions categorically declared that he would never change his decision merely succumbing to the pressure of their protests. He, however, announced that he would review the complaints submitted by the party workers and would make the decision on merit.

Mr Khan succeeded in making the protesting workers agree to wrap up their protest on Friday when he told them that the party needed electables to come to power for implementing its agenda.

The PTI’s list of the candidates shows that Sikandar Bosan has been awarded the ticket from NA-154 Multan-I. It also shows a large number of those politicians who have recently joined the PTI after quitting the PPP, the PML-N and other parties.

The name of Raza Hayat Harraj is also among those candidates. Mr Harraj, who remained the MNA on the PML-N ticket till May 31, has been given the ticket from NA-150 Khanewal-I.

It is interesting to note that Mr Harraj had won the 2002 elections on a PPP ticket, but later formed a forward bloc with the name of PPP-Patriots. He then joined the PML-Q, but in the previous assembly he joined the PML-N and sat on the treasury benches. The PML-N, however, issued him a show-cause notice when he did not turn up to the National Assembly to vote on the bill that made Nawaz Sharif eligible to become party president despite his disqualification by the apex court in the Panama Papers case.

The PTI has not awarded tickets to the candidates in Gujrat after having a silent seat adjustment with the Chaudhris of Gujrat and two seats of Rawalpindi from where Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed will be contesting.

The other prominent newcomers awarded the PTI tickets are Rashid Akbar Khan from NA-9 Buner; Omar Ayub Khan from NA-17 Haripur; Noor Alam Khan from NA-27 Peshawar-1, Tahir Sadiq from NA-55 and NA-56 Attock; Ghulam Abbas from NA-64 Chakwal-I; Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan from NA-72 Sialkot; Nazar Gondal from NA-86 Mandi Bahauddin; Nadeem Afzal Chan from NA-88 Sargodha-I; Fawad Chaudhry from NA-67 Jhelum-II; Riaz Fatiyana from NA-113 Toba Tek Singh; Ghulam Bibi Bharwana from NA-115 Jhang-II; Chaudhry Bilal Virk from NA-117 Nankana Sahib; Sardar Assef Ali from NA-137 Kasur-I; Chaudhry Nourez Shakoor from NA-147 Sahiwal; Ahmed Yar Hiraj from NA-151 Khanewal; Sardar Jaffar Leghari from NA-193 Rajanpur; Mohammadmian Soomro from NA-196 Jacobabad; Ramesh Kumar from NA-223 Matiari, Liaquat Jatoi from NA-234 Dadu, Farooq Azam Malik from NA-170 Bahawalpur-I; Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtyar from NA-176 and NA-177 Rahimyar Khan; Malik Ghulam Mus­tafa Khar from NA-181 Muzaffargarh-I; Zulfiqar Khosa from NA-190 Dera Ghazi Khan-III and Sardar Nasrullah Dreshak from NA-194 Rajanpur-II.

There were complaints against the party’s decision not to award a ticket to former MNA Ali Mohammed Khan. The fresh list shows he has been given ticket from NA-22 Mardan. The PTI has announced 90 candidates for 99 KP Assembly seats, 238 candidates for 297 Punjab Assembly seats, 79 candidates for 130 Sindh Assembly seats and 36 candidates for 51 Balochistan Assembly seats.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2018