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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Mismanagement mars: PTI ticket aspirants’ interviews in Islamabad

By Mushtaq Yusufzai
May 25, 2018

PESHAWAR: Mismanagement marred the interview process of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ticket aspirants for the general election which were arranged by party Parliamentary Board at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad on Wednesday, sources said.

Sources told The News the PTI Peshawar district election ticket aspirants had received a formal invitation for interviews a few days back.

They were informed that interviews were going to be conducted at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad at 9 pm on May 23.

Those desirous of the party tickets had deposited Rs50,000 each and submitted their forms to the Election Management Cell of the PTI which had been formed for the purpose.

But the candidates, numbering about 250 who had applied for 14 seats in the provincial capital of the KP Assembly, were in for a surprise when they discovered they were all to be called collectively to appear before the board. On average, 15 to 20 candidates had applied for each constituency.

After recent census, the number of provincial assembly seats had been increased from11 to 14 while the National Assembly seats have risen to five, according to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesman Member Provincial Assembly Shaukat Yousafzai.

The board for interviewing the applicants comprised of Shah Farman (PTI Regional President, Ministers Mohammad Atif Khan, Sharam Tarakai, Ishtiaq Urmar, KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar and Fazal Khan.

The sources said the ticket aspirants were first asked to wait in the parking lot of the KP House. No arrangements had been made for water or food for them. After having waited sufficiently, candidates were asked to gather inside the main hall of the KP House.

When the candidates assembled in the hall, they were surprised as a written script was read out to each group of the constituency.

Pleading anonymity, some candidates said the board members asked the aspiring candidates to trust them. “We were informed that “an independent survey” was being conducted to judge the candidates’ credentials,” said one of the aspirants who was present there.

The unique exercise left the candidates fuming. They called the board’s proceedings a “topi drama” (a smokescreen) and an insult to their intelligence.

One candidate was heard saying: “Clearly, the match is fixed. They have wasted our time.” Another candidate wanted a refund of fees to the candidates.

Most aspirants for the party tickets expressed no-trust in the party Parliamentary Board and said it comprised of the same individuals who were themselves desirous of the party tickets.

Pointing to a clear conflict of interest, the candidates wanted PTI Chairman Imran Khan to reconstitute the board by adding unbiased individuals and conduct a proper scrutiny of appropriate candidates with the consensus in the party.

“We will have the best candidates if the board is reconstituted and a proper selection criteria outlined,” said one candidate.

They called for adopting the interview methodology which was employed recently by the PTI Fata Parliamentary Board to shortlist the party candidates for the tribal region.

Each applicant was given 30 minutes and it was followed by a combined meeting of all for naming a consensus candidate. The entire process was completed in four days, they argued.

The candidates said this exercise, if properly carried out, would have a positive bearing on the next five years.

Meanwhile, in a related development, PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday postponed a KP and Fata candidates’ convention which was to be held at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar today (Friday). He was scheduled to address the meet.

“The postponement of the convention was another surprise for the PTI workers as the list of the applicants for the party tickets for the upcoming general election had already been submitted to the security staff of the Chief Minister’s House,” said a party leader while confirming the development.

A senior PTI leader said interviews for the applicants for Peshawar were held in Islamabad while for other districts of Peshawar division and Swat were conducted in the Chief Minister House Peshawar.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan was supposed to address all the applicants at the Chief Minister’s House in Peshawar today, Friday, but according to senior party leadership, the meet was postponed for unknown reasons. Imran Khan will attend a fundraising Iftar dinner in Peshawar today, for the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer ?and Research Centre.