ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Wednesday accused 20 of its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly members of selling their votes in recent Senate elections and issued them show-cause notices.

PTI chairman warned that if they did not respond to the notices or failed to satisfy the party, they would be expelled from the party and their cases would be sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further action.

But many of these suspects, appearing on different TV channels, refuted the allegation.

“We have decided to take action against those party lawmakers who have sold their votes [during March 3 Senate election],” Imran Khan announced at a press conference at the party’s main office near his Bani Gala residence.

PTI chief claimed that Rs40 million was offered as bribe to each lawmaker in the Senate election in KP, and he appreciated those party MPAs who refused to take the money.

He claimed that PTI was first party in the political history of the country that took action against its members over horse-trading, though this bad practice had been going on for the last 30 to 40 years.

PTI in the March 3 Senate election got less Senate seats from KP as compared to its strength in the provincial Assembly, clearly showing that some of its MPAs gave votes to the candidates of other parties.

On the other hand, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) got more seats from KP as compared to their strength in the provincial assembly.

Asserting that announcing the names was also distressing for him, PTI chairman said that these 20 names had been pointed out by a party’s probe committee formed earlier to investigate horse-trading allegations.

He also said that PTI was in the knowledge of some names right from the start but they wanted that these should be made public after a thorough investigation by the committee.

Names of suspects

Out of 20 suspects, 16 lawmakers – 11 male and five female – had contested election from the PTI platform, while four are those who joined the party by defecting from other parties.

The 11 male lawmakers of PTI origin are: Sadrar Idrees, Obaid Mayar, Zahid Durrani, Abul Haq, Qurban Khan, Amjid Afridi, Arif Yousaf, Javed Naseem, Yasin Khalil, Faisal Zaman and Sami Alizayi.

The five female lawmakers who won on PTI tickets are: Nargis Ali, Deena Naz, Nagina Khan, Fouzia Bibi and Naseem Hayat.

The remaining four lawmakers are: Babar Saleem and Ms Khatoon Bibi [who both defected from Awami Jamhoori Ittehad], Wajihus Zaman [PML-N defector], and Meraj Hamayun [Quami Wata Party defector].

Imran Khan said that his party was ready to take action against all these MPAs at any cost. He said that he knew that his party would face problems as a result of this decision as the next general elections were around the corner.

He said PTI has a total 60 lawmakers in KP Assembly and they were taking action against one-third of them – this shows that it was not an easy decision for the party.

PTI chief said that present procedure of Senate election has loopholes that let lawmakers sell their votes and his party therefore had objected to the procedure in the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms.

He said that Senate, being the representative of federation, has an important role in the democracies throughout the world - including the United States and Pakistan; therefore, its election should be through proportionate representation on the basis of parties’ strength in assemblies or through the direct process as is in practice in the US.

Khan lashed out at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif for saying that money was used in the election of Senate chairman. “Did they not know what was going on in the Senate elections for the last thirty years?” he asked.

Criticising the rhetoric of Nawaz about the “sanctity of vote”, he said that PML-N was playing a drama only to hide the theft it had committed.

“This is not the way to give respect to vote that people give you votes and you make money after coming into power,” he said. The respect of vote demands taking action against those who made money in Senate elections, he added.

He dared other parties to name their lawmakers who were involved in horse-trading. “We are waiting for other parties to make public such names,” he said.

When asked how the PTI found out about the MPAs who allegedly sold their votes, Imran Khan said that the probe committee reached the conclusion after analysing the voting patterns of party lawmakers in the Senate election.

He said that after a series of meetings PTI’s parliamentary board has made a criterion to award tickets to candidates for the next general elections.

Conceding that some PTI candidates gave money to get tickets in last general elections, he said, “I would advise all aspirants not to give money to anyone this time as it would be wasted since no ticket will be awarded to anyone unless I myself get satisfied about it,” he said.

Responding to a question about the departure of Nawaz Sharif to London, he said that he should have returned early if he wanted to just inquire after his ailing wife, Kalsoom Nawaz. He said government was saving the skin of Mr Sharif as “the sitting prime minister himself was involved in providing him protocol of up to forty vehicles.”

About the seat adjustment of those electables who have formed the South Punjab Province Front to struggle for the creation of new province for the area, he ruled out the possibility that PTI would not filed candidates in those constituencies where such electables would be contesting election.

“There can be only one or two exceptions - where PTI would not field candidates,” he said, adding that PT leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi was in talks with the members of this group.

 

 

PTI names 20 ‘party traitors’