LAHORE - As against his earlier decision, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is now having second thoughts about contesting by-elections against all the 33 National Assembly seats, it has been reliably learnt.
The reason to review the earlier decision is stated to be the anticipated disqualification in the Tyrian White case which is fixed for hearing on February 9 in Islamabad High Court seeking Khan’s disqualification for concealing his alleged daughter in his nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission in 2018.
According to the PTI sources, Imran Khan has directed the party’s ex-MNAs to file their nomination papers for the bypolls and launch election campaigns in their respective constituencies. Previously, it had been decided that the PTI chairman would be the sole candidate against all the 33 NA seats while the ex-legislators who had vacated their seats would be the covering candidates. Also, a day earlier, the PTI chairman withdrew his nomination papers from NA-193 (DG Khan) constituency and awarded a party ticket to former provincial minister Sardar Mohsin Leghari to contest elections against a seat which fell vacant due to the death of PTI MNA Sardar Jaffar Khan Leghari. The PTI’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, however, said that the PTI chief was yet to take a final decision to run for the by-elections. Talking to the media on Friday, he said that a decision in this regard would be taken in a party meeting.
Politics of victimization must end for national unity, Qureshi tells PDM