ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers protested outside party chairman Imran Khan’s Bani Gala residence on Saturday over differences regarding issuing of tickets for the upcoming general election.
Alleging that the party “did not issue tickets on the basis of merit”, dozens of workers gathered outside Imran's residence and rejected the issuance of ticket to Ghulam Sarwar Khan from NA-59.
They also demanded that Ajmal Raja be fielded from the Rawalpindi constituency.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the party has issued tickets to "strong candidates".
PTI this time did not issue a ticket to Babar Awan for Islamabad, instead he was given a party rank.
Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, who joined the PTI from PPP, will be given a ticket after a survey.
Some of the party leaders who could not secure tickets include Ali Mohammad Khan, Shoukat Yousafzai, Shehryar Afridi from KP.
From Karachi, Faisal Vawda’s name did not emerge for the general elections, while chances are that Firdous Ashiq Awan will be given a ticket.
"It will not be easy to contest against our candidates," Chaudhry said.
A day earlier, PTI announced party candidates for majority of the national and provincial assembly constituencies for the general election scheduled to be held on July 25.
Imran, while announcing the candidates, had said the tickets had been decided on merit and that it was impossible to accommodate all aspirants.
PTI ticket holders
As per the list issued, PTI chairman Imran Khan will be contesting for five seats: NA-35 Bannu, NA-53 Islamabad-II, NA-95 Mianwali-I, NA-131 Lahore-IX and NA-243 Karachi.
Imran will not be contesting the election from Rawalpindi this time. Ghulam Sarwar Khan will contest the election from two Rawalpindi constituencies: NA-59 and NA-63.
PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi will be contesting from NA-156 Multan, while party spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry will be contesting from NA-67 Jhelum.
In Karachi, Arif Alvi and Ali Zaidi will be contesting the polls from NA-247 and NA-244 respectively. Saifur Rehman will be the PTI candidate in NA-242 Karachi.
PTI leader Asad Umar will contest the polls from NA-54 Islamabad. PTI will field Aleem Khan in NA-129 Lahore and Abrarul Haq in NA-78 Narowal.
Dr Yasmin Rashid will be the party candidate from NA-125 Lahore.
The PTI has decided to field veteran politician Ghulam Mustafa Khar in NA-181 Muzaffargarh. Zulfikar Khosa will contest the polls on PTI ticket from NA-190 Dera Ghazi Khan.
Pervez Khattak and Murad Saeed will be PTI's candidates for NA-25 Nowshera and NA-4 Swat, respectively.
Aijaz Chaudhry will contest the polls from NA-133 Lahore, Nadeem Afzal Chan from NA-88 Sargodha, Shafqat Mehmood from NA-130 Lahore and Usman Dar from NA-73 Sialkot.
The PTI also issued tickets to 81 candidates on Friday contesting election for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. The party, however, named its candidates in only 21 constituencies of the Sindh Assembly.
It issued party tickets for 165 constituencies of the Punjab Assembly and 23 constituencies in Balochistan.
APP/AFP