PTI to ‘announce’ election candidates in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Ali Zafar revealed on Monday that the party would announce its candidates in the next 24 hours.

In conversation with Geo News, the senator shared that the party had issued the confirmation to 98%-99% of aspirants vying to contest elections on a PTI ticket. He added that a decision needed to be taken on hardly 2% of seats.

“The approval has been given on who will contest elections on which seat. The candidates will be announced today or tomorrow,” said Senator Zafar. He added that the decision will be announced after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict.

The PTI leader also shared that a large number of lawyers have been given tickets to contest the elections. However, he clarified that there is no ratio of how many tickets were awarded to lawyers and workers of the party.

Elections in the country are just a month away but the political parties, except a few, haven’t finalised their list of candidates.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is facing a difficult situation as it has been under pressure to accommodate PTI dissidents, Istehkam Pakistan Party (IPP) of Jahangir Tareen and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in the Punjab.

On the other hand, the PTI has been demanding a level playing field and alleges that it is being targeted. The party also faces a struggle with regards to its election symbol — the “bat”.

It has also approached the Supreme Court with a petition challenging the January 3 order of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which stripped the party of its iconic election symbol.

On January 3, PHC revoked the stay order granted by its single-member bench, restoring the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision to declare PTI intra-party polls null and void and stripping it of its election symbol. The PTI, however, challenged the verdict in the top court.