PESHAWAR: Rift in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ranks has deepened as disgruntled party leaders have vowed to contest the upcoming Senate elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), scheduled for July 21, and rejected the calls for withdrawal of their nomination papers.
The resolve was expressed during a meeting of disgruntled PTI leaders, which was attended by Khurram Zeeshan, Irfan Saleem, and Ayesha Bano. Khurram said the issue had gone far beyond Senate elections, vowing that he would not withdraw, bow down or compromise. Slamming the PTI KP leadership for a political alliance with the opposition, he asked: “Is this what our leader envisioned?”
Saleem echoed Khurram’s remarks, saying that they stand by principles and will remain so. “We will contest and never become part of this flawed system,” he added.
Earlier, it was reported that the upcoming Senate elections in KP would be held unopposed, as the PTI officially endorsed the list of candidates selected by party founder Imran Khan.
PTI’s political committee met a day earlier and endorsed the same nominees previously proposed by the party’s parliamentary board.
The development came following a broader understanding between the provincial government and the opposition to hold uncontested Senate elections. Under the agreement, six candidates from the PTI and five from the opposition are set to be elected unopposed.
The opposition’s nominees are: Talha Mehmood, Attaul Haq, Rubina Khalid, Dilawar Khan, and Niaz Ahmad. PTI’s candidates to be elected unopposed include Murad Saeed, Faisal Javed, Mirza Afridi, Noorul Haq Qadri, Azam Swati, and Rubina Naz.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Talha Mehmood said the government and opposition would contest the Senate elections together if PTI’s disgruntled candidates refused to withdraw.
Speaking to Geo News, he revealed that both sides agreed in a joint meeting — which was also attended by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur — to participate in elections jointly.
He added that PPP, PMLN, and JUIF leaders also attended the meeting and a seat-sharing formula was finalised.
On the other hand, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan noted that PTI’s political committee decided to take action against candidates violating the party discipline. “Those not appointed by PTI founder must withdraw their nominations or face removal by the party,” he added.
On the other hand, the KP Assembly is set to meet on Sunday (today) for the swearing-in of the 26 MPAs-elect on women and minority reserved seats. All of them belong to the opposition parties in the 145-member House.
The newly-elected members included 22 on women reserved seats and four for non-Muslims seats in the provincial assembly.
The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 92 members are considered as independents while one of them was elected on the ticket of Sunni Ittehad Council in the by-election from Kohat. The treasury benches will have no women MPA except Suriya Bibi, deputy speaker, who was elected on a general seat from PK-01 Chitral in the February 2024 general election.
After taking oath from newly elected members, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) will emerge as the largest parliamentary party on the opposition benches with 18 members, followed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) with 17 members that also holds the opposition leader’s slot in the provincial assembly. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will have 10 members while Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians (PTIP) will have four and three members, respectively.
The KP Assembly session has been convened for Sunday morning (July 20) with the sole agenda of taking oath from the newly elected members ahead of Senate polls scheduled for July 21.
According to the list shared by the Election Commission of Pakistan, eight women from JUIF will take oath on Sunday. The JUIF women MPAs include Belqees, wife of Israr Khan, Sitara Afreen, wife of Nawabzada Ghulam Haider, Aiman Jalil Jan, daughter of Abdul Jalil Jan, Madina Gul Afridi, wife of Noorul Haq, Rabia Shaheen, daughter of Gul Safdar, Neelofar Begum, wife of Malik Naqeebullah Khan, Naheeda Noor, wife of Aziz Rehman, and Arifa Bibi, wife of Tajamul Hussain.
The minority MPAs-elect of the JUIF include Askar Pervez and Gurpal Singh.
PMLN women MPAs-elect included Amina Sardar, wife of Sardar Zauq Akhtar, Faiza Malik, daughter of Pervez Khan, Afsheen Hussain, wife of Mehboob Khan, Shazia Jadoon, wife of Taimoor Malik, Jamila Paracha, wife of Mohammad Fida Qureishi and Farah Khan, wife of Salman. They will take oath as members of the provincial assembly.
Sureish Kumar will also take oath of his seat as a minority MPA of PMLN.
The PPP now has 10 MPAs in the provincial assembly after getting five women and one minority seat. The PPP women MPAs included Shazia Tehmas Khan, wife of Aman Khan, Sajida Tabbassum, daughter of Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, Mehar Sultana, wife of Hamidullah Jan, Ashbar Jan Jadoon, wife of Farooq Khan and Farzana Shireen, wife of Riazullah and minority MPA Behari Lal. The ANP will now have four MPAs in the provincial assembly. Khadija Bibi from Chitral and Shahida Waheed from Mardan will take the reserved seats.
In the February 8 general election, the ANP had secured only one seat from Peshawar when Arbab Usman was elected while Mohammad Nisar Baz was elected in by-polls from Bajaur. The ANP had won one reserved seat for women decided by the toss of the coin with PTIP.
Former PTI MPA Nadia Sher will take oath as an MPA on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf quota as she had quit Imran Khan’s party and joined PTIP before the general election. Rehana Ismael and Asma Alam of the JUIF, Sobia Shahid and Shehla Bano of PMLN and Neelofar Babar of PPP had already been elected to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on women reserved seats.
