PTI awards Senate ticket to Zeeshan Khanzada

MARDAN: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is likely to allot its ticket for contesting the Senate election for a general seat to young politician Zeeshan Khanzada hailing from

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, sources in the party said on Friday.

Zeeshan Khanzada belongs to an influential political family in Mardan. His family was affiliated with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) since its inception. His father Khanzada Khan contested elections on PPP ticket and was twice elected Member National Assembly from his native Mardan. He was also twice elected as Senator.

Khanzada Khan also served as president of the PPP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His family due to its association with PPP suffered during the rule of General Ziaul Haq and its business remained closed till 1988.

His elder brother Haji Jalat Khan had won election for a provincial assembly seat on the PPP ticket in 1977 and had served as administrator of Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) Mardan.

In the 2008 general election, Khanzada Khan won election from NA-11 Mardan on the PPP ticket. However, in the 2013 general election he lost this seat. In the 2018 general election, he requested the PPP leadership to allot the ticket for contesting the provincial assembly seat, PK-49 Mardan, to his son Zeeshan Khanzada.

The party ignored his request and instead allotted a ticket to the widow of Abdul Akbar Khan, the provincial assembly speaker. This prompted Zeeshan Khanzada to try and persuade his father to join another party, but Khanzada Khan did not want to end his long association with PPP. Later in October 2019 Zeeshan Khanzada quit the PPP and joined the PTI.

Subsequently Khanzada Khan, who had been elected as Senator on PPP ticket, resigned from the Senate. The PTI allotted the ticket to Zeeshan Khanzada, who retained the seat vacated by his father. As his brief term in the Senate has ended, he has been lobbying for the PTI ticket to contest the election being held on March 3. Sources in the party said he had been assured of the PTI ticket for contesting the Senate polls.