Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Sunday announced that strict action would be taken at the party level against PTI members contesting the upcoming Senate elections in violation of party discipline.
Speaking to media persons in Peshawar, Mr Gandapur said the provincial government would honour its recent understanding with the opposition, under which six Senate seats would go to the government and five to the opposition.
However, he clarified that the alliance between the treasury and the opposition benches was “limited to Senate polls only”.
"The candidates going against the party decision are, in fact, defying the directives of PTI founder Imran Khan," Mr Gandapur said, adding that the six Senate candidates approved by Mr Khan are the only ones recognised as official PTI nominees.
The chief minister noted that, on the instructions of the PTI founder, both the party’s parliamentary and political committees had unanimously agreed that candidates should be elected unopposed to ensure transparency and avoid horse-trading.
“This will be the first time in the province’s history that truly transparent Senate elections will be held,” he claimed.
Despite these efforts, several PTI candidates dissatisfied with the party’s choices did not withdraw their nomination papers by the official deadline of 12 noon. Among them is Irfan Saleem, who reiterated his intention to stay in the race, saying he would not step down “under any circumstances” and was “fighting for principles”.
Meanwhile, a joint meeting between government and opposition representatives earlier agreed that if the breakaway PTI candidates refused to pull out, both sides would jointly field their candidates against them in the polls.
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