- Protesters allege tickets were not issued on basis of merit
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shafqat Mehmood while addressing the media on Sunday said that more than 1,000 people requested for PTI tickets to contest in the general election 2018.
He also added that “the ticket distribution has been done on merit”.
Although Mehmood claimed the ticket distribution to have been done on merit, some of PTI workers took to the streets alleged that the party leadership did not issue tickets on the basis of merit.
The party workers from PK-87 Bannu, PP-3 and PP-100 Jaranwala reached Bani Gala and staged a demonstration.
The protest which started on Saturday continued overnight. Dozens of workers had gathered in Bani Gala and alleged that the party did not issue tickets on the basis of merit. They also rejected the issuance of the ticket to Ghulam Sarwar Khan from NA-59.
They also demanded that Ajmal Raja is fielded from the Rawalpindi constituency.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the party has issued tickets to “strong candidates”.
Earlier, PTI had decided to form reconciliation committees to redress the grievances of the workers who were denied party tickets.
The decision was made in a meeting chaired by party Chief Imran Khan.
According to a party statement, PTI will allot tickets to better and stronger candidates in the next phase.
Sharing his grievances, Khan Bahadur Dogar, who belongs to Faisalabad division of PTI, remarked that he paid for the food of dharna participants in 2014.
“I paid for breakfast, lunch and dinner of the protesters from my own pocket for 126 days,” he remarked while addressing a press conference on Saturday. “Along with PTI workers, I also paid for food of workers of Pakistan Awami Tehreek,” he added. “Still, I wasn’t given a party ticket.”
As per the list issued, PTI chairman Imran Khan will be contesting for five seats: NA-35 Bannu, NA-53 Islamabad-II, NA-95 Mianwali-I, NA-131 Lahore-IX and NA-243 Karachi
Earlier, The PTI had announced the names of its candidates for 173 seats of the National Assembly (NA) out of the total 272 seats and a sizeable number of tickets were awarded to newly-acquired electives instead of old party hands.
The party also released a list of most of the candidates for the provincial assemblies.