Candidates for elections 2018: PTI to receive applications through website

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) parliamentary board decided on Monday that it will receive online applications from all aspiring candidates who want to contest upcoming general election from its platform.
A meeting of the party's parliamentary board was chaired by Imran Khan here while Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak, Jahangir Tareen and other senior leaders participated to mull the procedure for award of tickets to candidates.
The application forms for the candidates who want to contest National Assembly and provincial assemblies' elections would be available on official website of the party from Monday evening. The election management cell of the party briefed the party chairman and other senior leaders about procedure of the general elections and potential candidates for different constituencies in the country.
Meetings of the parliamentary boards for candidates of Punjab and Islamabad would be held on April 14 and April 15 respectively, a party spokesman said in a statement released to media.
The applications from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) would be considered on April 17 and 18 while applications received from Sindh will be reviewed on April 20 in separate meetings of the parliamentary board. The parliamentary board will review the applications for party tickets received from Balochistan on April 25, and award the tickets to all candidates for National Assembly and provincial assemblies' seats on merit, the spokesman said.
The PTI's parliamentary boards will shortlist the candidates based on their strength to win the seat in their respective constituency and then the party's Chairman Imran Khan will give a final nod. The party spokesperson also said that the party will review loyalty of the candidates with the party, honesty and their strength to win a seat while awarding the tickets for elections. The aspiring candidates for National Assembly seat will deposit Rs 100,000 along with their application for the tickets while candidates for provincial assemblies are required to deposit Rs 50,000 along with their applications.
The party sources said that the parliamentary boards will finalize the party tickets by end of this month; so that that all the candidates could start their election campaign in their respective constituencies.
The five-year term of the present PML-N government is going to expire on June 1 and the next general elections are likely to be held in August this year.
During the meeting of the parliamentary board, the members also expressed solidarity with people of Indian Held Kashmir who have been braving brutalities at the hands of the Indian forces. The PTI members also urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene and initiate punitive action against India for violating the human rights in the Occupied Kashmir.