Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday named and shamed some 20 members of his party who had allegedly sold their votes in the recently held Senate elections.

Addressing a press conference here, the PTI chief announced that the party has decided to expel as well as report all 20 of its members to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for ‘indulging in horse-trading’ during the Senate elections that took place last month. However, the members will be given a chance to explain their position before sending names to the NAB, he added.

Those accused of horse-trading are: Deena Naaz, Nargis Ali, Nagina Khan, Sardar Idrees, Obaid Mayar, Zahid Durrani, Fouzia Bibi, Naseem Hayat, Qurban Khan, Arif Yousaf, Amjad Afridi, Abdul Haq, Javed Naseem, Yasin Khalil, Faisal Zaman, Sami Alizayi, Meraj Hamayun, Khatoon Bibi, Babar Saleem and Wajihuz Zaman.

Meraj Humayun had joined the PTI from the Quami Watan Party, Khatoon Bibi and Babar Saleem from the Awami Jamhoori Ittehad, and Wajih-uz-Zaman from the PML-N. Imran said that show-cause notices will be issued to the members and if no response is received, the party will launch disciplinary action against them.

To a question, the PTI chief said that the accused lawmakers had received Rs 40 million each. He said that several names were received soon afterwards the election who were allegedly involved in selling off their votes. However, the party wanted to reveal their names after thorough investigation. He said there was no place for those who harmed the party by selling off their votes.

On the occasion, he lauded other members of the party who resisted the ‘temptation’ of taking large sums of money offered to them by other parties.

Imran claimed that PTI, by expelling nearly 30 per cent of its lawmakers, was ‘truly protecting the sanctity of the vote’, and wondered if other political parties will follow suit.”This is not the first time lawmakers have taken part in horse trading,” Khan said. “This has been happening for the past 30 or 40 years.”

The PTI chief said the incumbent prime minister raised his voice about horse-trading after losing the elections, only when it suited him unlike the previous elections.”It is unfortunate the prime minister created a commotion over the selling of votes. Every time this happens in the Senate elections, it does not affect them,” he said.

He said the procedure for the Senate elections should be free, fair and transparent. He said the tickets for next general elections will be allotted on the basis of merit, and those attempting to use the influence of money will be disappointed.

Earlier in the day, an investigation report, carried out internally by the party, regarding horse-trading in last month’s Senate polls was presented to Imran Khan. The party had initiated the investigation into members who shifted loyalties after losing one Senate seat from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. After the announcement of expulsion of some 20 lawmakers, the PTI is now only left with 41 lawmakers of its own, seven from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and an independent member in the 122-member assembly. With only 40 days left before the assembly completes its term, the party has already made it clear that it does not have any intention to present the budget for the fiscal year 2018-19. Hence, they did not require a majority in the House to pass the financial bill.

Published in Daily Times, April 19^th 2018.