RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has rolled up its sleeves for the 2018 general elections and decided to change the constituency of Imran Khan in Rawalpindi.

In this regard, the party is also launching a survey to get public opinion about its expected candidates in other constituencies.

Imran Khan won NA-56 in the 2013 general elections after defeating PML-N’s Hanif Abbasi. But now the PTI has decided to change his constituency from NA-56, comprising city areas from Chandni Chowk to Faizabad, to NA-54, which consists of the cantonment areas.

“The reason behind this decision is AML President Sheikh Rashid Ahmed’s willingness to contest the election on NA-55 and NA-56. The PTI has asked its workers and supporters in NA-54 to prepare for welcoming Mr Khan,” a senior leader of the PTI told Dawn.

He said though a final decision would be taken by the parliamentary board of the party after the intra-party election scheduled to be held on June 17, the unofficial decision had been conveyed to the party leaders in the cantonment areas.

He said Sheikh Rashid wanted to contest from two constituencies claiming these were his traditional seats and he would give a tough time to the ruling PML-N by highlighting its corruption in the district, especially in the city areas.

However, he said, for the rest of the district and other constituencies of Punjab, the party had launched a survey through independent sources to get public opinion about the reputation of its local leaders who would be the expected candidates.

He said a private company had been hired for the survey and the party’s local leaders were not involved in the exercise.

Another senior PTI leader said the party’s members of the provincial assembly from Rawalpindi did not perform well due to which the party lost the local government elections in the city and cantonment areas.

He said the MPAs had formed a group to pressure the party leadership during the sit-in held in front of Parliament House in 2014. The MPAs also did not spend time in their respective constituencies for the resolution of the residents’ problems.

He said after the survey many faces in Rawalpindi were likely to be changed.

He said Sheikh Rashid wanted Imran Khan to contest the elections from the area adjoining his home constituency and that’s why he had insisted that Mr Khan should choose NA-54.

When contacted, PTI district president Haroon Hashmi admitted that the survey had been launched to get the public opinion but the local party chapters were not aware of its outcome.

“The report of the survey will be presented to the party chairman and the parliamentary board which will make a decision about the allotment of tickets for the next general elections,” he said.

PTI MPA Arif Abbasi also said the survey had been launched across the country to get public opinion about the expected candidates as the party had started preparations to enter the political arena of the PML-N.

He said the party wanted to bring suitable candidates in the elections so that they would contest the elections against the ruling party and give a tough time to it for its alleged involvement in corruption.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017