Most of PTI ex-MPs get tickets as party names KP candidates

PESHAWAR: The beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has announced names of the candidates for national and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies’ seats for the general election scheduled for February 8.

PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan will contest election from NA-10 in his native Buner district.

There were doubts where former federal minister and a close aide of Imran Khan, Murad Saeed, would be able to contest election as his appeal was still pending before the court.

According to PTI senior vice president, Dr Amjad Ali Khan, Murad Saeed has been allotted the party ticket but since his appeal has not been heard yet, therefore the party leadership nominated another candidate, Kamal Khan Advocate, for NA-4 Swat-III.

Similarly, Sher Afzal Marwat was allotted PTI ticket for NA-41, in his hometown Lakki Marwat district.

He had reportedly desired to contest election from Peshawar, and the party leadership had apparently sensed opposition from certain party leaders and workers advised him to contest from his native town.

Sher Afzal Marwat got prominence for his role in organising party conventions across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at a time when majority of the PTI leaders were either facing litigations or had underground due to roads on their houses.

Former health minister Taimur Khan Jhagra had also suggested that it would be better if a leader from Peshawar contested from that constituency.

Sher Afzal Marwat had told journalists that he was not interested in participating in the elections but was contesting polls on the directions of PTI founder, Imran Khan.

Majority of the former parliamentarians of the party managed to get the PTI tickets.

Since some of PTI former parliamentarians had quit the party and joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTIP), headed by former defence minister Pervez Khattak, therefore their constituencies fell vacant and the PTI leadership awarded tickets to new candidates.

Some of the party leaders, including former provincial ministers, Mohammad Atif Khan, Shahram Tarakai and Dr Amjad Ali Khan, were given two tickets, one for the national assembly and another for contesting the provincial assembly election.

According to the official list, Abdul Latif was allotted PTI ticket for NA-1 Chitral, Dr. Amjad NA-2 Swat-I, Saleemur Rehman NA-3 Swat-II, Murad Saeed/Kamal Khan Advocate NA-4 Swat-III, Sibghatullah NA-5 Upper Dir, Mehboob Shah NA-6 Lower Dir-I, Bashir Khan NA-7 Lower Dir-II, Guldad Khan NA-8 Bajaur, Junaid Akbar NA-9 Malakand, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan NA-10 Buner, Nawaz Khan NA-11 Shangla, Ghulam Saeed NA-12 Kohistan, Nawaz Khan NA-13 Battagram, Imran Saleem NA-14 Mansehra - I, Gustasif Khan NA-15 Maneshra – II, Ali Asghar Khan NA-16 Abbottabad-I, Ali Khan Jadoon NA-17 Abbottabad-II, Omar Ayub Khan NA-18 Haripur, Asad Qaiser NA-19 Swabi-I, Shahram Tarakai NA-20 Swabi-ll, Mujahid Khan NA-21 Mardan-l, Muhammad Atif NA-22 Mardan-lI, Ali Muhammad Khan NA-23 Mardan-lll, Anwar Taj NA-24 Charsadda-l, Fazal Muhammad Khan NA-25 Charsadda-ll, Sajid Khan NA-26 Mohmand, Iqbal Afridi NA-27 Khyber, Sajid Nawaz Khan NA-28 Peshawar-l, Arbab Amir Ayub NA-29 Peshawar-ll, Shandana Gulzar NA-30 Peshawar-lll, Arbab Sher Ali NA-31 Peshawar-lV, Asif Khan NA-32 Peshawar-V, Shahid Ahad Khattak NA-33 Nowshera-l, Nowshera-ll Zulfiqar NA-34, Shahriyar Afridi NA-35 Kohat, Yousif Khan NA-36 Hangu/Orakzai, Luqman Khan NA-37 Kurram, Shahid Ahmad Khattak NA-38 Karak, Maulana Naseem Shah NA-39 Bannu, Aurangzeb Khan NA-40 North Waziristan, Sher Afzal Marwat NA-41 Lakki Marwat, Zubair Khan Wazir NA-42 South Waziristan, Badshah Khan NA-43 Tank/Dera Ismail Khan, Ali Amin Gandapur NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan-l, and Shoaib Khan Miankhel NA-45 Dera Ismail Khan-ll.

Though the Peshawar High Court had on January 10 restored PTI’s election symbol ‘bat’ enabling the party candidates to launch their election campaign, they were still worried about the election symbol after the Election Commission of Pakistan challenged the court’s ruling in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.Meanwhile, PTI also allotted party tickets to its candidates for the provincial assembly election.