LAHORE: Along with other districts of Punjab, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has given party tickets to its candidates from Lahore for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections to be held in May.
The big surprise this time is that former provincial minister Dr. Murad Ras, who is also a close relative of Hamza Shehbaz, was not given a ticket for the provincial assembly seat.
He may be the party’s choice for the National Assembly elections while two former ticket holders of NA seats, including Dr Yasmin Rashid and Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan, have been fielded as candidates for the provincial assembly. .
Dr. Yasmeen Rashid contested twice directly against members of Sharif family in NA seat in 2013, 2017 by-elections and 2018 general elections and once got more than 100,000 votes but could not win.
She was elected to the Punjab Assembly seats reserved for women and was also the Health Minister of Punjab. He has been ticketed from PP 173.
Former PTI ticket holder Dewan Ghulam Mohiuddin from NA-124, who lost to PMLN’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the 2018 by-election, has been fielded from PP-147, the seat from which Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman has been winning continuously since 2002 while it has been winning continuously since PP 114. .
PTI leader Yasir Geelani has been given ticket from PP 144 while former Advocate General Arif Bhandar’s relative Asif Bhandar has been given ticket from PP 145. Abdul Karim Khan has been given ticket from PP 148 of Shalamar Town.
Mian Aslam Iqbal (PP170), Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid (PP168), Sarfraz Khokhar (PP166) and Malik Nadeem Bara (PP167) are among those who won the last general elections on PTI tickets.
Apart from this, Mian Akram Usman, who was successful in the previous by-election on the seat vacated by Abdul Aleem Khan, has also been given a ticket from PP 169.
Khalid Gujjar has been given a ticket from PP 165 while three-time MPA Chaudhry Mohammad Mansha Sindhu has been fielded from PP 163.
Interestingly, Shabbir Gujjar and Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, both former PTI ticket holders and July 2022 winners, were not given tickets.
Barrister Hamad Azhar was also not given a ticket, but is the party’s likely choice for the National Assembly seat to be won in 2018.
According to the list released by PTI, the candidates who have been given party tickets include Azam Khan Niazi (PP 159), Zubair Niazi (PP 172), Meher Wajid Azim (PP 171), Haider Majeed ( pp. 160), including Amar Bashir Gujjar (pp. 161). Ahmar Bhatti (PP164), and Khalid Gujjar (PP165).
PTI has fielded former Vice Chairman Wasa Sheikh Imtiaz from PP 155 while former Toyota Chairman Hafiz Farhat has been given ticket from PP 157.
Meanwhile, PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry have lost their chance to become the Chief Minister of Punjab after PTI Chairman Imran Khan refused to give them the ticket for the provincial assembly.
Thus far, the important figures of PTI who are seen in the race for the post of Chief Minister of Punjab in case of winning the provincial assembly elections include party president Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, former chief minister of Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar, Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Mian Shahbaz. Sharif and others included. Aslam Iqbal and Mian Mehmoodur Rashid.
Speaking on a TV programme, Fawad Chaudhry said that he was “angry” about not getting the ticket but the decision has been made.
To a question whether he would be the chief ministerial candidate from PTI, he said that the decision had to be taken at the party chairman’s level.
He further said that he would advise the party chairman not to announce the name of the chief ministerial candidate before the elections, whether it is Sardar Usman Buzdar or someone else.
