Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder on Saturday revealed that he was unaware of the distribution of the party tickets for the national and provincial assembly constituencies in connection with the February 8 general elections.
The PTI founder made the remarks during his interaction with party workers in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail after the hearing of the Toshakhana case, for which he has been incarcerated.
Internal rifts emerged within the ranks of beleaguered PTI after the former ruling party reportedly set aside merit and awarded tickets to ex-lawmakers and influential personalities.
PTI workers had earlier Saturday, inside the jail premises, registered their complaints with the party’s founder against the “unfair” distribution of tickets.
Dozens of PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter leaders and supporters had earlier this month also staged a protest against the “unfair” distribution of party tickets without consideration for merit. They were protesting against what they called “the sale of party tickets” in KP.
Responding to a question about the “unfair” distribution of party tickets, the PTI founder told his supporters: “I don’t know who got the ticket and who didn’t.”
“I was not allowed to consult about the distribution of party tickets.” The PTI founder asked his supporters how could he verbally decide about 850 tickets.
Meanwhile, Sher Afzal Khan Marwat, one of the members of Imran’s legal team, said that he had conveyed workers’ concerns over the controversial allotment of the tickets to the PTI founder.
Taking to his X handle, Marwat said that Imran had announced the withdrawal of such disputed tickets.
The PTI sources said that the likes of Asad Qasier, Atif Khan, Shah Farman, Shahram Tarakai, Junaid Khan, and Sheheryar Khan Afridi were not being allotted KP Assembly tickets and were asked by the party to contest for the NA only. It is not confirmed whether any of them finally got the KP Assembly ticket.
“These leaders are protesting that despite their seniority in the party, they have not been consulted in the ticket allocation exercise. They also conveyed a message to Imran Khan to express their no-confidence in the ticket allocation exercise,” a report read.
