ISLAMABAD: After deciding to launch a countrywide protest against election results and opting for the opposition benches, Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf has once again started to explore options on how they can form a government in the Centre, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. To fulfil this purpose, PTI has joined hands with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) so that they can bag reserved seats.
According to numbers claimed by PTI Chief Barrister Gohar Khan, PTI won 180 seats in the National Assembly, 115 seats in Punjab, 16 in Sindh, 42 in KP, and four in Balochistan. PTI has now begun talks with the Sunni Ittehad Council to boost its numbers in parliament by claiming reserved for women and minorities in the National and Punjab assemblies.
PTI claimed that despite losing its bat symbol the party earned 30 million votes and has vowed to form government with Omar Ayub as its candidate for the prime minister slot. Along with SIC, The party would contact Jamiat Ulama-i-Islam-Nazryati and Tehreek-i-Inqilab in KP for the merger.
Merger with SIC: PTI ends tie with MWM?
PTI had earlier announced to form a coalition with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in Punjab and the Centre. However, the situation became unfavourable for PTI when MWM failed to submit a list of reserved candidates to the ECP before the elections. The nominee papers of MWM contestants highlight them as independent candidates. This could have caused PTI to seek a merger with SIC.
However, Raoof Hassan-PTI spokesperson said that the partnership of MWM and PTI would continue as both sides were old allies in Gilgit-Baltistan.
A partnership proposal was also discussed among PTI and PTI-Parliamentarians (PTI-P) which got stalled after PTI leaders demanded to remove Pervez Khattak and Mahmood Khan from the party. News reports suggest that PTI and PTI-P were set to merge in KPK with Mahmood Khan taking over as co-chairperson. However, PTI leaders opposed the notion and demanded the removal of certain PTI-P leaders.