ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has reiterated that it will not form alliance with any political party for the coming elections and announced that it will start distributing tickets to its candidates on the last day of this month.

“The PTI has so far received more than 41,000 applications and the party will field candidates for all 272 seats of the National Assembly,” said PTI’s spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday.

He said the party would award tickets to its candidates from Islamabad on May 31, those from Punjab on June 2 and 3, those from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on June 4, those from Sindh on June 5, and those from Balochistan on June 6.

In response to a question, Mr Chaudhry admitted that his party was facing difficulty in distribution of party tickets because in many constituencies several leaders were seeking the ticket. However, the party had formulated a set of eligibility criteria for choosing the best candidate from among the applicants.

He said the leaders from other parties who had recently joined the PTI would be given preference. “They have come mostly from the constituencies where the PTI candidates lost the 2013 elections with a margin of more than 20,000 votes. Therefore, this time the party is considering fielding the newcomers in these places,” the PTI spokesperson said.

He, however, ruled out the possibility of any conflict within the party over the distribution of tickets and said the party leadership was strong enough to tackle any such situation.

He said that PTI chairman Imran Khan had already announced that the party would not enter into any alliance for the elections, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Jamaat-i-Islami had approached Mr Khan for forming alliances but he had turned down their requests.

Meanwhile, Mr Khan reiterated that his party would rid the country of corruption, nepotism and exploitation after coming to power.

Addressing his party’s central and provincial leaders at a function in Karachi, he said the PTI had become the focus of nation’s aspirations; so he had decided to award party tickets himself to strong candidates on merit.

He was of the opinion that solution to all the problems faced by the country lay in the success of the PTI in the coming elections. Mr Khan said Pakistan had been burdened by debt to such an extent that whoever came to power would find the country in the grip of severe crises. He said if the assets of present rulers before coming to power and after assuming office were assessed, it would be clear why they were in politics. The PTI chief said the pace of country’s progress was very fast in the 60s because at that time there were strong institutions like the Planning Commission which used to take decisions on merit. He added that all the institutions were today filled with the corrupt mafia and Pakistan had become bankrupt.

Habib Khan Ghori from Karachi contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2018