PESHAWAR: Some senior PTI leaders on Friday warned that they would contest the coming elections as independent candidates if the party’s parliamentary board awards tickets to newcomers.

Zahid Hussain Mohmand, who claims to be among the PTI’s founding members, told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club that he would contest elections from PK-73, Peshawar, as an independent candidate if the party awarded the constituency ticket to any newcomer.

Accompanied by senior party leaders including Najiullah Khattak, Dilroz Khan, Dr Nadeem Alam, Adnan Mamreez, Asif Bangash, Murtaza Hussain, Hashim Khattak, Mujahid Ali and others, he said the PTI wasn’t founded by Pervez Khattak, Shah Farman or Ishtiaq Urmar and that the parliamentary board couldn’t ignore the party’s founding members during the allotment of tickets.

Mr Mohmand said workers won’t accept election nominations on the basis of nepotism, friendship or wealth. He said 32 people had applied for PTI ticket in PK-73 but none of the party’s founding members had been promised the ticket.

The PTI leader said the PK-73 constituency consisted of Hayatabad Township, Tajabad, Malakanddher, Regi and Danishabad areas, where the last government didn’t execute any development work and thus, harming the party’s interests.

He said party chief Imran Khan was awarding election tickets to those suggested by a ‘particular group’.

“We wanted to appear before the parliamentary board but Shah Farman turned us away saying Ishtiaq Urmar has already applied for the PK-73 ticket,” he said.

He, however, said Ishatiaq Urmar later withdrew his application and nomination papers from the constituency but even then, the board had yet to name a senior member as candidate.

“We, all senior party leaders, have decided to field own candidate as an independent if anyone from outside gets the ticket from PK-73,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2018