BAJAUR: Two local leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) here on Sunday announced to contest elections as independent candidates as they were not awarded tickets by their party.

Addressing a news conference, PPP former district president Aurangzeb Khan and district general secretary Mohammad Anees Khan said that they decided to contest elections for PK-22 and PK-21, respectively, as independent candidates.

They claimed that their names were included in the list of candidates for provincial assembly seats that was approved by provincial parliamentary committee of the party. However, they alleged that their names were excluded at the eleventh hour from the list on the request of former MNA Akhunzada Chattan.

The PPP leaders said that it disappointed them. They said that they had launched election campaign several weeks ago with the hope to get party tickets. They said that they were not only senior and active leaders but also played important role in promoting the party in the district.

“We are not ready to accept this shameful decision and have decided to contest the elections as independent candidate,” they said.

PTI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidates here on Sunday complained about change in their electoral symbols.

Talking to journalists in Raghagan area, PTI candidates Anwarzeb Khan, Gul Zafar Khan and Dr Hamidur Rehman said that they were deprived of their party’s electoral symbol ‘bat’ after Supreme Court late night verdict.

They said that earlier returning officers awarded them electoral symbol of ‘wall clock’ on Saturday night. However, they said that their symbols were replaced with other ones on Sunday morning.

They claimed that per rules, it was the privilege of former lawmakers to give them their favourite electoral symbols. However, they said that returning officers didn’t follow the rules and withdrew their earlier symbols without citing any legal reason.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2024