ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser expressed reservations over the party’s list of candidates for the upcoming senate elections, stating that he is unsure whether it was approved by party founder Imran Khan.
The PTI leader made these remarks during an interview with a private news station on Friday.
When asked if he was convinced that legitimate people were coming to the Senate and Khan had chosen the nominees, Qaiser answered, “I have no idea whether Imran Khan approved it or not. I don’t want to comment on it.
“I know the names of candidates [for the senate] but I cannot say if Khan approved them,” he went on to remark.
He went on to say that PTI leader Omer Sarfraz Cheema is a stalwart who has made several sacrifices for the party and deserves to be elected to the Senate.
Qaiser’s remarks come amid schisms among top party officials and disagreements over important choices, including forming an alliance with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) following the February 8 elections.
Following the elections, the party chose to join SIC in order to claim the seats allotted for women and minorities. However, PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat stated on Thursday that his party lost more than 80 seats due to poor decision-making.
He stated that the decision to withdraw from forming an election alliance with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Shirani (JUI-Shirani) and later making an arrangement with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Nazriati (PTI-N) inflicted a severe setback.