A media outlet recently claimed that a PTI candidate, Ghulam Murtaza Satti, had switched sides and was now part of the PPP. However, iVerify Pakistan has found that Mr Satti was not a PTI candidate in 2024 elections.

On January 30, ARY News published a report on its website titled ‘PTI candidates declare support to PPP in Rawalpindi, Islamabad’. The report said that in a meeting with Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad, “Ghulam Murtaza Satti of PTI, along with other party candidates announced their support for the PPP in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.”

“The PTI candidate along with other general election contestants announced their support for PPP in twin cities,” the report added.

iVerify procured the official PPP press release titled ‘President Asif Ali Zardari welcomes the new entrants in the PPP’, which announced Mr Satti’s decision to join the PPP, but did not refer to him as a ‘candidate’.

The PPP also shared pictures of the meeting, which differed from the image used in the news report. Furthermore, the platform checked the official list of PTI-backed candidates for the National Assembly and Punjab, but Mr Satti was not among them, either.

This fact check has been published in partnership with iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2024