ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday took strong exception of a report that suggested that during the first phase of the Local Government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, party tickets to PTI candidates were awarded on the basis of favouritism and bribery and party’s genuine candidates and workers were ignored.
Khan also vowed to ensure that party tickets are distributed to party workers on merit and not on favouritism and bribery.
Sources in the ruling party told Pakistan Today that Chief Minister KP Mahmood Khan submitted his assessment to PM Khan during a meeting that reviewed the reasons that led to the party’s defeat in KP election.
Sources said that the report also mentioned the lawmakers who did not support the party’s candidates during the polls, allocation of party tickets to wrong people and other issues.
The report attributed PTI’s defeat in the first phase of the elections to “mismanagement” and that “workers of the same party contested elections against each other.”
Sources further added that the report cited “traditional politics and hereditary issues” as reasons behind the defeat in the local body elections, adding that the distribution of party tickets was also a reason behind PTI’s failure.
According to the report, the poor selection of candidates led to disagreements between party workers; hence, the party wasn’t united during the first phase of the elections.
During the meeting, the premier expressed his dissatisfaction over the party’s failure in the local body elections, saying that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was their [PTI] baseline and the party lost the election due to “internal incompetence.”
The premier said that in the second phase of the local body elections, he will personally decide candidates, adding that favouritism and bribery would not be tolerated.
According to sources, PM Imran Khan directed the chief minister to unite PTI workers. The premier also reportedly stated that the party should learn lessons from the results of the first phase as this time indifference among the party members benefitted the opposition.
Earlier, the Prime Minister’s Office received a report citing reasons for the PTI’s loss in the local body polls in KP. According to the report, merit had been ignored while allocating tickets for the election. The tickets had been issued to the relatives of the governor, ministers and the lawmakers of the PTI, read the report.
The report said that PTI MPA in Lakki Marwat Dr Hasham Inamullah had been ignored while allocating the tickets. Resultantly, Inamullah extended his support to the four candidates fielded by the Saifullah brothers who went on to win the local body elections, read the report.
In addition, two candidates backed by MNA Fazal Muhammad Khan lost the elections in Charsadda. The report noted that had the two candidates won, they would have worked in accordance with the wishes of the MNA.
The local leadership ignored a competent worker of PTI, Shafi Jan and gave a ticket to Salman Shinwari, the son of PTI’s regional president Shehbaz Gul Shinwari who didn’t enjoy support of Shehryar Khan Afridi.
Shafi Jan contested the election as an independent candidate and bagged more double votes than the PTI candidate in the constituency. Shafi Jan bagged 26,793 votes while Shinwari received 15,219 votes.
Similarly, the KP Governor Shah Farman-backed candidate lost elections for the coveted post of Peshawar mayor. Tickets were given to KP Deputy Speaker Mehmood Jan’s brother and provincial Education Minister Shahram Tarakai’s relatives who lost the elections, the report said.
