KASUR: Many of the aspirants who were refused PTI tickets from Bani Gala also announced leaving the party.

One such politician is Waqas Hassan Mokal, who had joined the PTI last week after saying goodbye to the PML-Q. He went to the PML-N after he was refused a PTI ticket for PP-177. He announced his joining after meeting PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz on Friday in Lahore.

The PTI has awarded all the four tickets of the National Assembly in Kasur to those politicians who have joined it from other parties while seven out of nine tickets for the provincial assembly have been given to those who also represented other parties in the past.

The PTI awarded no ticket to any woman for national assembly while only one ticket in PP-177 had been bestowed upon Mrs Masood Bhatti.

Mrs Bhatti is representing her late husband Masood Bhatti who was killed by his rivals in 2014.

Former MPA Waqas Hassan Mokal is the son of the late Hassan Akhtar Mokal, former deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly and ex-provincial minister of PML-Q. He was elected consecutively for six terms as MPA from the platform of PML-N and PML-Q. Waqas won the election in 2013 from on the PML-Q ticket and a personal vote bank in the constituency.

Mokal was aspirant of the PTI ticket for PP-177 but decided to turn to the PML-N after being disappointed by the former. The party, instead, awarded ticket to retired Col Hashim Khan whose family had loyalties with the PPP and PML-Q in the past.

Meanwhile, another towering political figure of the district Asif Nakai, son of former Chief minister Arif Nakai, announced to leave the PTI and contest the election as an independent candidate.

Nakai was aspirant for NA-139 but the party awarded ticket to former PML-Q MNA Dr Azeemuddin Zahid Lakhvi.

The PTI ticket holders for PP-179 and PP-177, namely Pir Mukhtar Ahmed and Col retired Hashim Dogar, may also follow Nakai and leave the party.

The PTI aspirants, including Mehr Muhammad Saleem advocate and his brother Shabbir Hussain, had also been shown the door on the issue of tickets. Both Saleem and Hussain decided to contest the general election from NA-138 and PP-177 as independent candidates against the PTI candidates.

Former district naib nazim of the PML-Q, Maqsood Sabir Ansari, had been awarded ticket for PP-174 while he was aspirant for NA-138.

He also seemed to be disappointed and was reluctant to start his election campaign in the constituency.

According to political pundits, award of tickets was a crucial for the PTI but it has failed to keep its supporters and aspirants with it and many of the aspirants are annoyed with Bani Gala.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2018