Jailed Imran Khan's PTI says candidates to be announced within 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Monday said it would announce its candidates for the upcoming February 8 election within the next 24 hours.

Senator Ali Zafar from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party told Geo News that the party had issued the confirmation to 98-99 per cent of candidates vying to contest the election on a PTI ticket.

He said a decision needed to be taken on merely two per cent of seats.

“The approval has been given on who will contest elections on which seat. The candidates will be announced today or tomorrow,” said Zafar.

He said the decision will be announced after the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict.

The PTI leader also shared that a large number of lawyers have been given tickets to contest the election.

However, he clarified that there is no ratio of how many tickets were awarded to lawyers and workers of the party.

The general election in cash-strapped Pakistan is just a month away but political parties, except a few, have yet not finalised their list of candidates.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is facing a difficult situation as it has been under pressure to accommodate PTI dissidents as well as the Istehkam Pakistan Party (IPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in Punjab.

On the other hand, the PTI has been demanding a level playing field, alleging that it is being targeted.

The former ruling party has also been struggling in connection with its election symbol — the cricket bat.

It has also approached the Supreme Court with a petition challenging the January 3 order of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which stripped the party of its iconic election symbol.

On January 3, the PHC revoked the stay order granted by its single-member bench and restored the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to declare PTI intra-party polls null and void.

The PHC also stripped the PTI of its election symbol.

The PTI, however, challenged the verdict in the top court.