ISLAMABAD - Although the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has recently awarded party tickets, the Dr Farooq Sattr-led group has gotten a little share with some former lawmakers supporting him not so far being considered for tickets for the upcoming general election.
The two MQM-P factions — the Bahadurabad group led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and the PIB faction headed by Farooq Sattar — recently reunited after an internal fissure around three months back. The Bhadarabad faction after a long legal battle won the authority to run the party and awarded the tickets to a number of members for July 25 polls.
The seven former lawmakers of the party, mainly having an affiliation with Dr Sattar, could not get party tickets to contest the 2018 elections.
Although the decision on some seats including NA-249 (Karachi –District West), PS-107 (Karachi-District South) and PS-107 (Karachi-District South) has not been made, chances of accommodating the former lawmakers are minimal, sources said. The seven members, Abdul Waseem, S Iqbal Qadri, Kamran Akhtar, Dr Nikhat Shakeel, Sajid Ahmed, Salman Baloch and Syed Waseem Hussain, have not been awarded party tickets so far.
The sources said that these members were also planning to hold a meeting with Siddiqui in the presence of Dr Sattar about the party tickets’ issue.
According to the sources, the members may not get party tickets from Siddiqui and a strong reaction from them could not be ruled out after a meeting with the ticket-awarding authority.
These members will first try to hold a meeting with Dr Farooq to chalk out a strategy ahead of the meeting with Siddiqui.
The Islamabad High Court recently dismissed a petition of Dr Sattar, upholding the ECP’s decision to remove him as the MQM-P convener.
The Bahadurabad group had moved an application with the ECP against Dr Sattar after a rift emerged in the party ranks over the award of tickets for Senate elections.
Dr Sattar had challenged the ECP verdict in the IHC. The controversy over the party tickets between both the factions had erupted after a clash between Siddiqui and Dr Sattar.
