Khattak satisfied with PTI performance in Senate elections

NOWSHERA: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Monday said that he was satisfied with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) performance in the Senate election.

He expressed the views at a ceremony that had been arranged to mark the launch of the PTI membership campaign and issuance of cards to party activists in Pabbi tehsil of the Nowshera district.

The chief minister said that the party produced better results than expectation of the party leaderships in the election to the upper house of the Parliament.

Pervez Khattak said that PTI Senate candidate Khayal Zaman Orakzai lost the seat with a very slight margin and he had submitted an application for the recounting of votes.

The chief minister said in the previous Senate election the PTI had managed to win only four seats despite alliance with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government junior partner Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) which also included the Senate seat of the religio-political party chief Sirajul Haq.

Pervez Khattak claimed that no member provincial assembly belonging to the PTI indulged in horse-trading or violated the party discipline.

He said the PTI was only trying to find the reasons as to how the parties which had not much representation in the provincial assembly managed to win two seats each for Senate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The chief minister said this in a reference to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The two parties managed to win two Senate seats each from KP.

Pervez Khattak said, if voted to power in the next general election, his party would change the procedure of Senate election to put an end to the horse-trading in the election to the upper house of the Parliament.

He said the PTI was united and hoped it would win the next general election and form government in the Center and all the four federating units.

The chief minister claimed that the PTI chief Imran Khan would the next prime minister. “The PML-N and PPP would get a big surprise in the 2018 general election,” he hoped.

Pervez Khattak repeated his allegations of corruption against the Awami National Party (ANP) and enumerated the ‘achievements’ of PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in its four and a half years rule in the province.