LAHORE, April 3: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) central parliamentary board has finalised its candidates for 13 National and 21 Provincial assembly seats in Lahore. The decision for selection of candidates for four provincial assembly seats is pending.
The Insaaf Lawyers Forum (ILF), which had conducted party’s intra-party elections spanning over six months, has completely been ignored. The ILF had forwarded its five candidates for general seats and two women lawyers for reserved seats from Lahore but none of them was accommodated by the party board, headed by party chief Imran Khan. PTI intra-party election commissioner Shadab H Jafri, who has been a party worker since 1996, has also been ignored. He had applied for PP-147 seat.
According to CPB decisions, Imran Khan will be contesting from NA-122 against PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, against whom he had lost in 2002 elections by a margin of 18,893 votes from the same constituency.
The PTI board selected two NA and six PA seats candidates from amongst the youth. The constituencies are: NA-119, NA-121, PP137, PP140, PP142, PP143, PP155 and PP159.
The PTI’s candidates for NA and their PA constituencies: Hamid Zaman (NA-118), Muhammad Madni (NA-119), Dr Yasmin Rashid (NA-120), Barrister Hammad Azhar (NA-121), Imran Khan (NA-122), Mian Hamid Meraj (NA-123), Waleed Iqbal (NA-124), Hamid Khan (NA-125), Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed (NA-126), Abdul Aleem Khan (NA-127), Chaudhry Mansha Sindhu (NA-129) and Talib Sindhu (NA-130).
The board has allotted NA-128 constituency to Khokhar brothers – Karamat Khokhar, Zaheer Abbas Khokhar and Sarfraz Khokhar – and reportedly asked them to unanimously decide one candidate from among themselves.
The PTI’s PA candidates and their constituencies within the parenthesis are: Engineer Yasir Gillani (PP-137), Mian Mahmood Ahmad (PP-138), Chaudhry Asghar Gujjar (PP-139), Zubair Niazi (PP-140), Nawaz Natt (PP-141), Malik Waqar Ahmad (PP-142), Atif Chaudhry (PP-143), Muhammad Yameen Tipu (PP-144), Mian Iftikhar (PP-145), Jamshaid Iqbal Cheema (PP-146), Abdul Aleem Khan (PP-147), Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry (PP-148), Mian Akram Usman (PP-149), Sheikh Imtiaz Mahmood (PP-150), Haji Fayyaz (PP-151), Dr Murad Raas (PP-152), Hafiz Farhat Abbas (PP-155), Ahsan Rasheed (PP-156), Hamid Sarwar (PP-157), Tahir Majeed Meo (PP-158) and Malik Nawaz Awan (PP-159).
The decision for party candidates for PP-153, PP-154, PP-160 and PP-161 is pending. It is learnt that PTI Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan has been authorised to finalise candidates for PP-153 and PP-154 as they fall under his NA-127 constituency.
Party officials told Dawn that the PTI board had selected NA and PP seats candidates in a manner that it could ask its two to three NA and four or five PA candidates to withdraw in case of seat adjustment with the Jamaat-i-Islami.
ILF: The Insaaf Lawyers Forum has expressed its strong resentment against the board for ignoring lawyers in the distribution of party tickets. The forum has announced holding protests all over Punjab.
It is learnt that the PTI CPB has also ignored intra-party election commissioner Punjab Shadab H Jafri, who worked day in and day out to conduct intra-party elections in a fair and transparent manner. Mr Jafri is PTI’s old guard and has been working for the party since 1996 and had contested general election from PP-147 in 2002 general elections. The party selected PTI Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan for PP-147 besides NA-127.
It is learnt that the party CPB has also ignored party’s veteran worker Omer Sarfraz Cheema, tsunami change group’s convener Umer Zaheer Meer and another leader Ibrarul Haq.
