PTI to bring strong candidates in next polls: Imran

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Monday said the party will bring strong candidates for the next general elections and he will personally award the tickets.

The PTI decided to immediately start selection of candidates for general elections and the first meeting of the party’s parliamentary board for this purpose has been summoned on April 14-15. It was decided here at the PTI parliamentary board’s meeting presided over by Imran Khan and attended by its members from all the four provinces. For the first time, applications will be received online for which forms were to be uploaded on the PTI website. All parliamentary board meetings will be chaired by Imran Khan, who said during the meeting that he would take decision on selection of candidates through the parliamentary board forum and that there would be no quota for any area. After the 2013 general elections, Imran had conceded that there were flaws in selection of candidates, which let the party down and this would not be repeated.

One participant of the meeting told The News that Imran emphasised that there would be no violation of the laid down criterion in selection of candidates and that he would not listen to anyone in this connection. He also admitted that there would be problems in keeping everybody happy in the process of selection of candidates, as several had joined the party in recent months, mostly from Punjab, only with the assurance of being fielded in the general elections. The meeting decided to field strong candidates in majority of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies. Among others, the meeting was attended by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Jehangir Tareen, Arif Alvi, Asad Umar, Pervaiz Khattak, Fawad Chaudhry and Aleem Khan.

According to the PTI spokesman, an applicant for the National Assembly’s constituency would be required to submit Rs100,000 as security along with application, whereas an aspirant of a provincial seat will deposit Rs50,000. The meeting reiterated that the yardstick for selection of candidates would be honesty, commitment to the party, ability to contest election and win. To this effect, the PTI’s election management cell briefed the forum and pleaded strict adherence to the laid down procedure and criterion.

The first meeting will deliberate on applications from aspirants from Islamabad and Punjab, followed by another meeting fixed for April 17-18 to discuss applicants from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata, on April 20 for applications from Sindh and those from Balochistan would be deliberated upon on April 25.

The final list of candidates will be furnished after through scrutiny of applicants and it will be presented to the chairman for approval. The PTI meeting strongly condemned the latest wave of Indian forces’ brutalities on people of Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) and reiterated its complete support to their right to self-determination. The forum advocated immediate intervention from the United Nations Security Council and taking practical measures for the realisation of their right to self-determination.

Earlier, in a tweet, Imran said, “Strongly condemn the brutality of Indian forces against innocent Kashmiris and the killing of unarmed civilians in IOK. The people of Pak stand with the Kashmiris democratic struggle for self-determination. The UNSC must act against Indian aggression in IOK,” he stated.