PTI ‘Plan B’ fails after PTI-Nazriati denies accord

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Amid seething confusion and uncertainty, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday apparently decided to implement its ‘Plan B’ and issued PTI-Nazriyati tickets to all its national and provincial assemblies’ candidates.

However, the party’s plan failed as PTI-Nazriati denied any agreement with the PTI, while the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ordered the Returning Officers (ROs) not to allot any political party’s election symbol to another party’s candidates.

According to the PTI’s Central Media Department, the party instructed that all candidates should submit tickets to their respective ROs and District Returning Officers (DROs) immediately.

In a post on X, the party’s official account said: “Whoever has PTI-Nazriati tickets should immediately submit them and take any kind of hindrance to the ECP and high courts.”

Talking to reporters here, senior lawyer and PTI spokesperson Shoaib Shaheen, who has been fielded from Islamabad for an NA seat, said party candidates can submit their nomination papers under the PTI-Nazriati’s name.

He remarked, “In line with the law, the ECP can allot tickets to any party. The ROs are bound to issue tickets for whichever party the candidates ask them to”.

He alleged, at times, the authorities ‘steal’ the ‘bat’ electoral symbol from the PTI, and they do the same with their ‘batsman’ symbol.

Meanwhile, the ECP directed the ROs to refrain from allotting the electoral symbol of a party other than which the candidate belongs to. The five-member bench of the commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, issued the order, which says, “Therefore, in exercise of powers, conferred upon the commission under Section 4 of the Elections Act 2017, the commission hereby, directs that no symbol of any political party be allowed to any such candidate, who is member of a political party and seeks allocation of symbol of other political party.” The order reads, “All such applications be rejected accordingly, and be processed in accordance with the law, strictly in terms of the apex court.”

The ECP said in the order that… “now without leaving his previous party, become member of another political party which is against the provisions of Section 203 (3) of the Elections Act, and such acts of such candidates is a violation of affidavit filed along with the nomination papers which strictly comes within the punitive clause of judgement of the august Supreme Court of Pakistan reported as (PLD 2018 SC 678) Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan Islamabad and others versus Habib Akram and others”.

The ECP pointed out that the operative part of the SC judgement is that “…it is clarified that failure to file such affidavit before the returning officer would render the nomination papers incomplete and liable to be rejected. If the affidavit or any part thereof is found false than it shall have consequences as contemplated by the Constitution and the law. Since the affidavit is required to be filed in pursuance of the orders of this court, therefore, if any false statement is made therein, it would also entail such penalty as is filing a false affidavit before this court”.

The order said, “Whereas numerous applications received from various persons that many interested candidates are intending to violate the law and deceive the Election Commission and in clear term, violate the affidavit already give with his nomination papers and the provisions contained in Section 66 of the Elections Act 2017 that prescribes, ‘candidate to file certificate of party affiliation.— A contesting candidate, before seeking allotment of a prescribed symbol, shall file a declaration before the Returning Officer about his affiliation with a particular political party, if any, along with a certificate from the political party showing that he is that party’s candidate from the constituency’.”

Meanwhile, PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen has filed a petition with the Election Commission over the issue of submission of certificates of PTI-Nazriati. In his petition, Shoaib Shaheen has requested that the tickets of PTI-Nazriati issued to the candidates should be approved. He said that “our candidates are facing difficulties in submitting tickets of PTI-Nazriati. The Election Commission should issue necessary instructions to the ROs in this matter’.

On the other hand, the PTI-Nazriati Chairman Akhtar Iqbal Dar denounced the submission of “fake” nomination papers submitted by the Imran Khan-led party candidates using the name of the party.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Dar said he was surprised to see PTI candidates with his political party’s tickets appearing before the ROs as he did not allocate them. He announced that a verified list of PTI-Nazriati candidates will be provided to the ROs to avoid confusion. Dar clarified that his party allotted the same tickets to its candidates that had been issued in the previous 2018 general polls.

“PTI-Nazriati has its own manifesto and programme, as well as a separate electoral symbol depicting ‘batsman’. A candidate can neither use platform of another political party during elections nor had my party signed an agreement with any party.”

Slamming the embattled PTI, Dar said that over the course of years, he felt that transparency and honesty did not exist in the Imran-led party which led to distancing himself from the previous party. “It is the election commission’s core responsibility to trace fraudulent schemes of these candidates.”

The PTI later said the PTI-Nazriati had backtracked from an agreement between the two sides, allowing the candidates of the former to contest polls under the latter’s symbol.

In conversation with Geo News, PTI leader Barrister Ali Zafar confirmed that his party had entered an agreement with the PTI-Nazriati, noting that they struck the deal in Islamabad, with sources saying it took place on December 30. “It is unfortunate that the Tehreek-e-Insaf Nazriati backtracked from its commitment. Now, we are pinning our hopes on the Supreme Court,” Zafar said.

While speaking on Geo News programme “Naya Pakistan”, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan revealed that the PTI-Nazriati chairman had formally signed an agreement with his political party for forthcoming elections. “Dar had signed the party tickets (issued to candidates) while sitting in our office with the PTI chairman two weeks ago.”

He continued that Dar could have been facing pressure like other politicians who had been “forced” to conduct press conferences against the Imran-led party. He admitted that PTI candidates have been directed to take an alternative option to contest polls under compulsion, with less time to submit tickets before the expiry of the deadline and the pending verdict of Supreme Court.

As per the details available with Geo News, the agreement states that both parties would adjust seats on seven constituencies. It mentioned that Akhtar would get a Senate seat. A candidate of the PTI-Nazriati, according to the agreement, would get a ticket for the reserved seat in the provincial assembly. The same number would be applicable to the National Assembly and the Senate as well. It mentioned that PTI candidates would contest polls on the ‘batsman’s’ logo.

Hours after the PTI decided to use the platform of PTI-Nazriati for its candidates to contest polls, an agreement signed between the two sides surfaced. According to a copy of the agreement (memorandum of understanding) with this correspondent, the development took place here in December 2023 and purportedly carries signatures of PTI-Nazriati Chairman Akhtar Iqbal Dar while the space for the signatures of PTI chairman is blank.

In case the symbol ‘bat’ is taken away from the PTI for whatsoever reason, then all the candidates would contest under the symbol of PTI-Nazriati that is ‘batsman’.

“Irrespective of the fact whether the party contests under each other’s symbols, the PTI will give the following seats to PTI-Nazriati: NA-115 (Akhtar Dar), NA-116, PP-141, PP-142, PP-143, PP-144, PP-156,” one of the 11-point MoU says. Accordingly, seat adjustment was to be made on these seven seats.

The text of the agreement states that a candidate for a reserved seat at the provincial level was to be given to the PTI-Nazriati as well as a reserved seat in the Senate and the National Assembly. “This agreement is in perpetuity till the parties decide to discontinue with mutual consent. Akhtar Dar will remain the chairman of PTI-Nazriati till the next election of PTI-Nazriati. At the end of his term, if Akhtar Dar wants to join PTI, he will be inducted into the party with great respect after he quits the chairmanship of PTI-Nazriati.”