Fauzia Kasuri seeks PTI ticket from KP for Senate polls

ISLAMABAD: Senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Fauzia Kasuri, admits that she transferred her vote and domicile from Punjab to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to contest the Senate election after the party got majority in the province in the 2013 general elections.
Documents available with The News reveal that Fauzia Kasuri contested general elections 2013 from Punjab where her proposer Mr. Nooruddin Ahmed and her seconder Zeeshan Mahmood both were residents of Lahore Punjab. However soon after the general elections she got her vote registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where her party got majority and formed the government.
Talking to The News she said it is her constitutional right to contest the Senate elections and she has submitted her nomination papers for the Senate elections to the party secretariat.“I have got my vote registered in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and my domicile is also from Abbottabad. I have my business in the province and it is my right to get my vote registered here.
She said many other people who are currently residing in some other cities and provinces have their votes registered in other areas,” she commented.“I am associated with the party from the first day and I withdrew my dual nationality for the welfare of this country. However I leave it to my party leadership what it decides about the party tickets,” she remarked.
When asked what would be her reaction if the party leadership refused to award her party ticket she said she did not want to comment on this.However a senior leader in the PTI informed The News on condition of anonymity that Fauzia Kasuri’s chances of getting party ticket are slim because the party leadership is facing tough time from the province.
The board meeting is scheduled today (Tuesday) for awarding tickets for the upcoming Senate elections and the decision made by the board would be final. However the board would consider all aspects - long association of Ms Kasuri with the party as well as demerits of awarding ticket to a non-resident of KPK.
Even the constitution demands for the person to be resident of the same province from where he or she is contesting the Senate elections.According to Article 62 (1) A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless - (c) he is, in the case of the Senate, not less than thirty years of age and is enrolled as a voter in any area in a Province or, as the case may be, the Federal Capital or the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, from where he seeks membership.