PTI releases revised list of candidates for upcoming polls

• Out of 272, PTI fields 229 candidates for NA seats 
• 27 out of 30 candidates finalised for Punjab Assembly seats from Lahore

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday released a final list of its candidates running for the general elections on July 25, after much protest and bickering outside Bani gala.

According to a statement issued by PTI, the list has been released after Imran Khan’s approval. The remaining few constituencies will be decided soon, it added.

Out of a total of 272 National Assembly constituencies, PTI has fielded candidates on 229 seats. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Imran Khan’s party has awarded tickets to 90 candidates off 99 seats.

In NA-163, Vehari, PTI has given its green signal to Khalid Maqbool Chohan instead of favorite Ayesha Nazir.

Ali Muhammad Khan, who has been one of Imran Khan’s staunch supporters, has been given the ticket this time after being snubbed in the first list.

Former federal minister and PML-N leader Sikandar Bosan managed to secure a ticket from NA-154 Multan, but party later retracted his ticket, with PTI Spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry saying that decision on NA-154 will be taken later.

Ali Khan Tareen, son of Jahangir Khan Tareen, doesn’t feature in the final list as he pulled out of the election race due to study reasons.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi is poised to contest from NA-156 Multan, as well as NA-220 Umerkot and NA-221 Tharparkar. His son Zain Hussain Qureshi will be contesting from NA-157 Multan.

Tahir Sadik has been assigned the task to contest on two constituencies of Attock.

In addition, 79 candidates have been chosen to contest in Sindh on provincial assembly seats.

Three people, including Asad Umar, have been awarded PTI’s ticket to stand in the election from the capital city of Islamabad. It has also chosen 11 candidates for election in FATA.

For the seats of Punjab Assembly from Lahore, the PTI has still not finalised all the candidates and 27 out of 30 candidates have been awarded tickets so far. These three seats where the party has yet to take a decision are PP-145, PP-148 and PP-153.

In its previous list, PTI could not make decision for at least eight Punjab Assembly constituencies from Lahore.

From PP-144, PTI has fielded Advocate Chaudhary Khalid Mahmood where he will contest against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Samiullah Khan.

PML-N has fielded Ghazali Saleem Butt in PP-145 Lahore-II where PTI could not decide its candidate.

Zaman Naseeb has been fielded by PTI against Hamza Shehbaz Sharif in PP-146, while in PP-147 Muhammad Tariq Saadat from PTI will contest against Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

Muhammad Zubair Khan Niazi has been placed in PP-149, Ch Muhammad Asghar in PP-150, Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal in PP-151, Muhammad Irshad Dogar in PP-152, Hafiz Mansab Awan in PP-154, Javed Anwar Awan in PP-155, Mian Muhammad Iftikhar in PP-156, and Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui has been placed as PTI’s candidate from PP-157.

Abdul Aleem Khan has been awarded tickets for two provincial assembly seats from Lahore namely PP-158 and PP-162.  In PP-162, PML-N has fielded Muhammad Yasin Sohl.

Murad Ross will contest from PP-159, former opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mahmoodur Rashid will contest from PP-160 and Malik Jahangir Hussain will contest from PP-161 where he will contest against Malik Saiful Malook Khokhar’s son.

Moreover, Bilal Aslam will contest from PP-163, Yousaf Ali from PP-164, Muhammad Yousaf from PP-165, Abdul Karim Kalwar from PP-166 Lahore, Nazir Ahmed Chohan from PP-167, Fayyaz Bhatti from PP-168, Nakash Saleem from PP-169, Farhat Amin from PP-170, Javed Umar from PP-171, Khalid Mahmood from PP-172 and Malik Sarfaraz Khokar would be PTI’s candidate from PP-173.

On other side, PML-N could finalise only 11 candidates for the provincial assembly’s seats in Lahore and placed Samiullah Khan in PP-144,Ghazali Saleem Butt in PP-145, Hamza Shehbaz Sharif in PP-146,Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman in PP-147, Shabbir Khokhar in PP-161, Muhammad Yasin Sohal in PP-162, Mian Naseer Ahmad in PP-163, Shehbaz Sharif in PP-164 and PP-165, Khawaja Saad Rafique in PP-168 and Maryam Nawaz Sharif in PP-173.