PESHAWAR – At least three panels representing different groups within the party will contest the intra-party elections to choose provincial president, general secretary and other members for PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter on February 25.
Led by old and some new faces, the candidates fielded by these three panels have accelerated campaign to win top maximum positions of the party in the provincial cabinet, as the PTI Chief Imran Khan has directed the KPK chapter to conclude this process by February 25, sources in the party told the Nation Saturday.
Former PTI president Asad Qaiser, who leads a group, is also candidate for the post of president, ex-provincial minister Pervez Khattak, who have joined the PTI several months back, is not only leading a group, but also is candidate for the slot of provincial president, and the third group headed by Murad Saeed, another old member of the party, will also try his luck for the top post of the party.
The sources said that a tough contest is expected between two groups led by Asad Qaiser and Pervez Khattak respectively. However, the group headed by Murad Saeed, who has the support of youngsters, could not be ignored, and his panel might win a few positions in the PTI KPK cabinet, for which, polling will take place on February 25.
Asad Qaiser group has fielded Shah Farman, another old member and former general secretary of the party for the general secretary ship. It has been learnt that his position is strong among his rivals for the same post. Prevez Khattak’s panel will compete with Shaukat Yousafzai, as its aspirant for the post of provincial general secretary of the party. Shaukat Yousafzai is another old office bearer of the party, the sources said.
The third panel, which is led by Murad Saeed group, who claims representing youngsters in the party, is yet to nominate a candidate for the slot of provincial general secretary for contesting the elections. Moreover, Zahid Hussain, former provincial secretary information, will too contest for the post of general secretary as an independent candidate. A total of 30 members will be elected for the provincial cabinet of the party. The sources said that it is expected that a slight change may be made in nomination of candidates, as on some positions, these panels have yet to finalize names for contesting on various posts of the PTI KPK chapter.
These said that a tough contest is expected to take place among these contenders.