Workers’ pressure leads PTI to award Senate ticket to Irfan Saleem

PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary board has nominated party worker Irfan Saleem from Peshawar as the candidate for the vacant Senate seat after the disqualification of Murad Saeed.

The parliamentary board meeting was held yesterday under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after which the provincial general secretary, Ali Asghar Khan, issued a formal notification.

According to a statement issued by the PTI, Irfan Saleem will be the party’s candidate for the vacant Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

After the decision of the parliamentary board, Irfan Saleem’s nomination is being declared a victory for PTI workers, on which there were earlier considerable differences within the party.

There were severe internal differences in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf over the nomination of a candidate for the vacant Senate seat, while members from Peshawar were also allegedly openly opposing the sale of tickets.

A party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the Senate ticket was with Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, and he and his close circle were trying to give the ticket to a businessman from DI Khan, whom party workers call ‘ATM’.

He further said that there were big differences on the ticket issue, and the workers stood with Irfan Saleem.

According to the party leader, last time too, Irfan Saleem’s name was finalized by Imran Khan, but the then Chief Minister Ali Amin, gave the ticket to a big capitalist from Khyber district instead.

He said that this time, full preparations were being made to give a ticket to ‘ATM’ on the vacant seat after Murad Saeed’s disqualification, but the workers and key leadership came out openly.

PTI Member of National Assembly Arbab Sher Ali from Peshawar also openly opposed it. He threatened on social media that if the ticket was not given to a worker, he would come to the media and openly discuss the party differences, although he usually does not do so.

He thought that the Senate ticket is the right of the worker and it should be given to the worker. PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Deputy Secretary Information Ikram Kathana welcomed the nomination of Irfan Saleem and said that he is a strong, ideological, and dynamic political worker.

According to him, the nomination of Irfan Saleem is a manifestation of the trust of the party workers. The leadership has decided based on merit and performance.