Why PTI has shun support for Moulana Samiul Huq for Senate elections

Why PTI has shun support for Moulana Samiul Huq for Senate elections

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has backtracked from its promise to the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-S) as it decided to shun its support to JUI-S chief Samiul Haq in the coming Senate elections.

The exclusion of the name of JUI-S chief from the list of PTI’s Senate candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has left many wondering. The JUI-S chief’s name was absent from the list of the PTI candidates for the Senate seats that included Faisal Javed Khan, Azam Swati, Dr Mehar Taj Roghani, Khayal Zaman, Fida Hussain and Ayub Afridi.

The move also leaves a question mark on an electoral alliance the PTI and the JUI-S had agreed on last year. The two parties had agreed to formulate a ‘joint strategy’ for the next general elections.

JUI-S spokesperson Maulana Yusuf Shah was clueless about the PTI decision, reported the publication.

“We will hold a meeting of our Majlis-e-Shura on the decision. The PTI had promised us a Senate seat [for Maulana Samiul Haq],” the publication quoted the spokesperson as saying.

He said that the JUI-S and the PTI had decided to contest the general elections from a single platform, adding that the modalities of seat-to-seat adjustments between the two parties had to be worked out.

“We had not asked [PTI] for a [Senate] seat, it came from their side,” the JUI-S spokesperson told the outlet.

Senate elections are scheduled to be held in March after the Election Commission of Pakistan had issued a schedule last week.