KARACHI: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate contesting the by-elections for a national assembly seat on Friday ruled out withdrawal of its candidature in favour of Jamate Islami (JI), PTI’s important ally in north frontier province.
The by-elections in NA-246 have become a focal point in Pakistani politics after a member of the national assembly of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) resigned from the party and the constituency, located in the neighbourhood, considered as the MQM stronghold.
While taking on the MQM candidate, both PTI and JI fielded separates candidates instead of bringing a joint candidate to solidify their position.
Both parties had formed a coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after the 2013 national and provincial elections. However, they failed to reach a consensus on maintaining their coalition in Karachi.
Imran Esmail, the PTI candidate for the seat told media that there was no possibility of him quitting.
Earlier, JI had declined the PTI request of withdrawing its candidate from the by-elections on the basis of their past records in which they garnered a significant numbers of votes.
PTI, on the other hand, harped on its showing in the 2013 elections in which it bagged more than 30,000 votes against the MQM candidate, who secured more than 130,000 votes.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan has completed the process of ballot papers printing. For the polling scheduled on April 23, almost all preparations have been completed. 213 polling stations will be set up for the registered 357,000 voters in NA-246.
The government has also planned to deploy paramilitary Rangers in and outside each polling station to avoid any law and order situation and to ensure free and fair polling.
