- Khurram Zeeshan, the dissident candidate refusing to leave.
- Irshad officially asks ECP to delete its name from the list.
- Waqas says that his withdrawal does not mean that he has left his ideology.
Peshawar: Four of the five dissident candidates from Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI) have gone away from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate race, authorizing the path for a government opposition agreement to elect candidates without opposition, announced the party early on Monday.
Among the candidates far from the PTI Senate, Irfan Saleem, Ayesha Bano, Irshad Hussain and Waqas Orakzai withdrew from the competition. All had been appointed by the party but were not satisfied with the internal selection process.
Only one candidate, Khurram Zeeshan, refused to withdraw.
Irshad Hussain, who had filed articles for the technocrat’s slit, officially wrote to the Pakistan electoral commission, asking his name to be deleted.
In his letter, he declared that the decision had been taken according to the instructions of the leadership of the Party and the founder of the PTI, Imran Khan.
“I do not want to contest,” he wrote. “Please delete my name from the Senate elections list.”
Waqas Orakzai also confirmed his withdrawal, saying that this did not mean that he had moved away from his ideology.
He added that the president of the PTI, lawyer Gohar and the legal advisor, Salman Akram Raja assured him that all the candidates in the Senate had been approved by the founder of the party.
The Senate of the Senate in KP was mired in the internal rockets of the party, with several PTI figures raising concerns about transparency and the selection of candidates.
It should be noted that 25 members elected on reserved seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly took the oath on Sunday.
With the trial of members on reserved seats, the provincial assembly is now over, forming the electoral college required for elections in the Senate.
The survey for 11 seats in the Senate should take place today (July 21), with 25 candidates in the running. The Government and the opposition of the PTI have agreed to present the candidates jointly against an unknown candidate of the PTI.
Under the agreement, six seats will go to the government and five to the opposition.
A total of 145 provincial legislators will vote in the elections.
