LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday issued a list of the party candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled to be held on May 14 as per the orders of the supreme court leaving the PDM constituent parties in logical cogitation.
The party has finalised a list of 297 candidates to contest the Punjab Assembly polls, slated to be held on May 14 as per Supreme Court orders. The Imran-led party unveiled its ‘horses’ amidst uncertainty revolving around the fate of the polls even after the SC clear order in this regard. The move has, however, put the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) constituent parties in an awkward position as they are in two minds whether or not to issue the tickets for what they see as ‘still not due’ elections.
Interestingly, Ch. Pervaiz Elahi and Ch. Monas Elahi have also been awarded PTI tickets from PP-34 (Gujrat-VII) and PP-32 (Gujrat-V) respectively, giving strength to the notion that one of the Chaudhrys might emerge as PTI candidate for the Punjab CM slot.
The PTI has also formed a committee to address objections regarding grant of the tickets. According to a PTI statement, the candidates will submit their tickets to the concerned returning officers today. Separately, a four-member committee has been constituted to remove objections to the grant of tickets. The panel includes Ijaz Chaudhary, Musaddiq Abbasi, Aoon Abbas and Rai Hassan Nawaz.
It is important to note that the top court, in its April 4 order, directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold the polls in Punjab on May 14. The court is hearing the polls delay case and has summoned the representatives of the leading political parties today.
The award of tickets came on the eve of the deadline for submission of party tickets to the ECP for allotment of election symbols. On the other hand, the PPP has also finalised its nominees for five divisions of central Punjab and tickets would be issued to them by the local party leadership, which is said to be awaiting orders from the party’s high command.
According to the PTI, party chief Imran Khan selected the candidates. He handed over the tickets for the selected candidates to respective presidents of central, north, west and south regions of Punjab late on Wednesday evening for onward distribution to candidates across the province.
The Election Commission had set April 20 as the last date for the submission of party tickets by the respective candidates for the May 14 polls. The list of the PTI candidates was uploaded to the official party website at www.insaf.pk on Thursday morning.
