PESHAWAR: The ruling PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suffered a setback as according to party leadership nine to ten of their MPAs slipped during the Senate election on Saturday that led to the defeat of PTI’s billionaire candidate KhayalZamanOrakzai.
“There will be a high level inquiry within the party and those found guilty would have to face stern disciplinary action,” said a senior PTI leader in Peshawar soon after the results were announced.
He said the results had shocked the top party leadership and they would not spare those “who sold their conscience to others”.
“We were informed a day earlier about the horse-trading and were told to be ready for a setback,” said a PTI leader close to Chief MinisterPervezKhattak.
The PTI had fielded eightcandidates from KP and the party leadership was quite sure to get six of them elected.
With the highest number of MPAs in the 124-member KhyberPakhtunkhwaAssembly, the PTI was expected to win more Senate seats compared to other parties.
However, only five candidates of the party succeeded in winning the Senate election andthree others –Khayal ZamanOrakzai and Latif Yousafzaifor general seats andNaureenIbrahim for women’s reserved seat – were defeated.
Those elected on general seat from PTI platform included FaisalJaved,AyubAfridiandFidaMohammad while MohammadAzamSwatiwas elected on technocrat seat and DrMehrTaj Roghaniwon one of thewomenreservedseat.
Some PTI candidates were newcomers and old party activists were stunned by the decision to award them the tickets. They complained thatthe Senate ticketswere givenon the basis of financial position of the candidates instead of their services and dedication to the party.
Some PTI circles even claimed that billionaires had heavily invested in the party’s KP chapter and got party tickets fortaking part inthe Senate election.
“We were expecting this and the resourceful party candidates were advised to pay the PTI MPAs to prevent them from selling their votesto other contenders. We don’t know what happened but we are dead sure that that nine or 10 of our MPAs didn’t follow the party line,” said theseniorPTI leader.
According to PTI circles in Peshawar, it was not clear who could have ditched the party candidates but some of the party MPAs were aware they won’t getparty tickets forcontestingthe 2018 general election and it is believed they violated the party discipline and voted for other candidates in the Senate polls.
“Certain PTI MPAs were not happy with the policies ofPervez Khattakand had formed a forward bloc but the party’stop leadership constantly ignored them. It is suspected they could have taken their revenge,” said another PTI leader.
The newly elected SenatorFaisalJavedbelongs toShawaAdda villageinSwabidistrict and is a diehard PTI activist. He is often seen on stage in PTI public meetings with PTI chairmanImran Khan. He also performs as stage secretary in public gatherings.
Compared to other PTI candidates, he isn’ta rich person but the party leadership believed hewould win as he has been close toImranKhan.
He was associated with a private cellular phone company from where he resignedand is now working fulltime forImranKhan.
According to PTI sources, FaisalJaved’swife is serving as a squadron leader in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
AyubAfridi,stated to be a billionaire, is the owner ofHaier Pakistan and has heavily invested in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and United Kingdom (UK).
He belongs to Bara subdivision in Khyber Agency. According to the PTI sources, he is new to the electoral politics but has had a long association withImranKhan.He is, however, a newcomer in PTI.
As per PTI circles,AyubAfridiis a fan ofImranKhan and has been donatingRs10 millionto theShaukatKhanum Memorial Cancer Hospital every year.
Another newcomer in the PTI isFidaMohammad, who was previously with the PML-N along with his brother,Nisar Mohammad, an outgoing member of the Senate.
FidaMohammad toois a successful businessman andowns filling stations in different areas.His family is originally from Katlang tehsil inMardandistrict, but is now living in Malakanddistrict.
MohammadAzamSwati, elected on the technocrat seat, is alsoa resourceful man.He lives for years in the US and joined politics after returning home. He was first elected as DistrictNazimof his nativeMansehra.
Hewas once elected Senator on the JUI-F ticket. HequitJUI-F to join the PTI and get elected to the Senate on its ticket in 2015.
Out of PTI’s two female candidates, DrMehrTajRoghaniandNaureenIbrahim, only DrMehrTajwas elected on women seat.
DrMehrTajRoghaniis a seniorpaediatricianand is presently serving as Deputy Speaker of the KhyberPakhtunkhwaAssembly.
PTI’sKhayalZamanOrakzaiandLatifYousafzai, both vying for the general seats, suffered defeat.
PTI had also assuredsupporttoMaulanaSamiulHaq, head ofJamiatUlema-e-Islam-Sami group, and administrator ofDarul UloomHaqqaniinAkoraKhattak,Nowshera.In the end though, Chief MinisterPervezKhattakappeared disinterested in gettingMaulanaSamiulHaqelected as Senator because he was underpressure to facilitate the election of the PTI candidates due to reports that some of his party lawmakers may have sold their votes to other contestants.
MaulanaSamiulHaq’sJUI-S hadno representation in the provincial assembly. He contested for the technocrat seat and needed more than 35 votes to win.