Babar Awan, Shahzad Akbar fail to secure PTI tickets for Senate polls

ISLAMABAD: Two key aides of Prime Minister Imran Khan could not get the PTI tickets for the upcoming Senate elections as the party issued the final list of its candidates for the March 3 polls.

The ruling party’s Parliamentary Board, which met here today with PM Imran Khan in the chair, did not approve the names of Babar Awan, Shahzad Akbar, Amir Mughal and Sajjad Turi as the candidates for the hotly contested elections.

The board awarded tickets to 20 candidates.

From Balochistan, the name of Abdul Qadir (PTI-BAP joint candidate) was approved for a general seat while PM’s Adviser on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Fauzia Arshad were given tickets on the general and reserved seats respectively for Islamabad.

From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shibli Faraz, Mohsin Aziz, Zeeshan Khanzada, Faisal Saleem and Najiullah Khattak were given tickets on general seats, while Dost Muhammad Mehsud and Dr Humayun Mohmand were given a go ahead to be PTI’s candidates on Technocrat seats.

Meanwhile, on reserved seats for women, Dr Sania Nishtar (chairperson Ehsaas Programme) and Falak Naz Chitrali will be the ruling party's candidates, while Gurdeep Singh would be PTI’s candidate on the reserved seat for minorities.

On general seats from Punjab, Saifullah Khan Nyazee (North Punjab), Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhary (Central Punjab) and Aon Abbas Buppi (Southern Punjab) have been given PTI tickets.

Barrister Ali Zafar and Dr Zarqa are the ruling party’s candidates for the technocrat seat and reserved seat for women, respectively.

From Sindh, where the PTI is the second-largest party, Faisal Vawda has been awarded a ticket for a general seat while Saifullah Abrro would be the PTI’s candidate for a technocrat seat.