ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) legal staff is debating whether its sponsored candidates should join Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and how many parliamentary gains the move would result in, according to The News on Friday.
PTI members who talked to The News on the condition of anonymity said that conversations are still underway because there are numerous ifs and buts involved.
“This has never been done in the country’s political history; perhaps, therefore, extreme caution is being exercised before arriving at a major political decision,” they went on to say.
The PTI and MWM have been allies for years, but the new idea has put both factions in a completely different position.
According to party sources, the proposals from the legal team would be put before the PTI.
They claim that their party would jeopardize its identity, which is critical since it must be determined how many reserved seats it will get, which will be MWM seats. The MWM has never had a strong presence in parliament.
“The real question before us is also what exactly the price of meeting the legal requirement to qualify for women’s reserved seats will be,” the lawyer representing the PTI added.
As a result, it is assumed that the list of women candidates for reserved seats was quite low; hence, the due share may not have been available in comparison to the PTI-backed over 93 returning candidates.
According to parliamentary sources, it will be fascinating to see how the Election Commission of Pakistan responds to the potential new scenario in light of the Elections Act of 2017.
“We have no problems. It would be fantastic if our platform could become a PTI platform, allowing us to take a step ahead in response to our opponents’ initiatives,” a senior MWM member told The News.
PTI to join hands with MWM to create governments in the Centre and Punjab
Earlier this week, the PTI said that it will collaborate with MWM to create governments in the Centre and Punjab, as directed by its founder Imran Khan.
Speaking to the media in Islamabad, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan stated that the former prime minister, while ruling out any talks with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), has directed the party to form a coalition with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) over reserved seats.
“Those who won the [February 8] elections should be allowed to form the government because it is their right,” he said, delivering Khan’s message.
“I have been given the mandate [by Khan] to approach all political parties to continue the party’s political struggle for democratic values with the exception of the PML-N, MQM-P and the PPP,” he said.
