GUJRAT: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has again allotted the ticket of NA-71 (Kharian-Sara-i-Alamgir-Kotla) to Chaudhry Ilyas, the party’s Gujrat district president, a few days after his name was removed from the list in Punjab.

The PP-34 (Sara-i-Alamgir) ticket has been issued to ex-MPA Chaudhry Arshad. The PP-28 (Tanda) ticket is yet to be issued to Chaudhary Zubair Ahmed Tanda whose name too was removed from the list of the candidates but he claimed on Wednesday that he had won the party nomination.

After the removal of the name of Mr Ilyas from the list of the candidates there were reports that former PML-N MPA Malik Hanif Awan who has been running his campaign as an independent candidate for NA-71, might be given the PTI ticket. Sources close to Awan group said he neither joined the PTI nor had he applied for the PTI ticket but his nephew Jamil Awan, also an ex-MNA, reportedly held a few meetings with a senior PTI leader.

The Awan group was annoyed with the PML-N leadership for being ignored by Hamza Shahbaz who continued to support Kotla group of ex-MNA Abid Raza Kotla and he (Awan) also did not apply for the PML-N ticket and announced that he would contest NA-71 as an independent candidate against Kotlas.

Former PTI ticket-holder from PP-34, Raja Naeem Nawaz, who was the runner-up by securing 33,000 votes in 2013, has not been given the ticket for 2018 and the party preferred a person who had joined the PTI two years ago.

PML-Q: Former Punjab education minister Mian Imran Masood on Thursday withdrew his nomination papers in favour of the PTI candidate for PP-31 (Gujrat city) after a formal announcement of the seat adjustment at a news conference a day earlier.

He is learnt to have contacted the disgruntled PTI leader, Afzal Gondal, and convinced him to accept the seat adjustment. Both the leaders talked over telephone and Mr Masood conveyed a message of Chaudhry Shujaat Husain to join hands for the election campaign of Pervaiz Elahi (NA-69) and Saleem Sarwar (PP-31).

Pervaiz Elahi will also run for PP-30 (Kunjah) as the party may want his name to be pitched for the Punjab chief minister after the election. Moonis Elahi is not in the contest this time round as, a source said, he would withdraw his nomination papers from PP-30 where Pervaiz Elahi would be a joint candidate of the PML-Q and the PTI.

He is also in the run for NA-65 Chakwal where again the PTI has not fielded any candidate.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2018