KP governor sends legal notice to PTI leader after being accused of selling Peshawar mayor ticket

PESHAWAR: Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman has sent a legal notice through his lawyer to PTI's Arbab Mohammad Ali for leveling allegations that he sold the ticket for Peshawar mayor and that too to a favoured candidate for the recently held local government elections in the province.

A statement issued from the Governor’s House said the legal notice was issued to Ali over a video message in which he leveled "baseless allegations" against the governor for taking money and awarding the Peshawar mayor ticket to a favourite candidate.

Ali — who is the brother of PTI Member of National Assembly Arbab Sher Ali and the nephew of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Establishment Arbab Shehzad — claimed Farman had sold the Peshawar mayor's ticket for Rs70 million.

A day earlier, KP Higher Education Minister Kamran Bangash had also handed Ali a notice seeking Rs500 million in damages. Ali had reportedly accused Bangash of selling a ticket for Peshawar mayor to a wealthy businessman and receiving Rs20 million in return.

Ali himself had applied for a PTI ticket and wished to run for Peshawar mayor but despite being an influential figure and the former nazim of Town-III Peshawar, he wasn't considered by the party and the ticket was given to an Abu Dhabi-based businessman Rizwan Bangash who lost to candidate jointly fielded by JUI, PML-N, and QWP.

The allegations

Enraged by the refusal of the party ticket, Ali had reportedly circulated a video in which he made allegations against a few senior PTI leaders, including Governor Farman and Bangash, accusing them of selling the party ticket.

Top PTI leadership in preliminary investigations found that they lost the city mayor elections due to the alleged negative role of Arbab Shehzad’s family.

Some of them claimed Prime Minister Imran Khan was well aware of these developments and he was planning to soon relieve  Shehzad of the responsibility.

Some unknown people started an organised campaign on social media a few days ago, saying the prime minister has decided to appoint Arbab Shehzad as KP governor to replace Shah Farman, an old friend of the PTI chief.

Though it was not clear who was behind this media campaign,  it obviously was not favourable for Arbab Shehzad.