ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has so far interviewed some 300 candidates for awarding tickets in the upcoming general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

A 15-member larger parliamentary board of review will be deciding tickets for the upcoming general elections in AJK. The board will review and award all the tickets proposed by the primary parliamentary board as notified earlier by PTI Chief Organiser Senator Saifullah Khan Nyazee.

A statement issued by PTI central secretariat said that interviews of some 300 from three divisions of AJK have been completed, and tickets would be awarded based on their interviews as who could prove to be the most suitable candidate for the party in the upcoming elections.

After finalising the names of the candidates, Prime Minister Imran Khan himself would chair the review board while federal ministers including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pervez Khattak, Shafqat Mehmood, Asad Umar, Senator Azam Swati, Ghulam Sarwar Khan and Ali Amin Ganadpur would be its members.

The other members are Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, Chief Organiser Senator Nyazee, Secretary General PTI Aamir Mehmood Kiani, senior vice-president PTI Arshad Dad, Usman Dar and president of the PTI's AJK chapter Barrister Sultan Mehmood.

An office bearer of the PTI's Central Secretariat said that the review board has been formed following some differences over the tickets as proposed by the parliamentary board.

The incumbent AJK Legislative Assembly will complete its five-year term this year in July. In November last year, the ruling party had announced that it would contest upcoming elections in AJK without going into electoral alliance with any political party.

Before this, PTI had entered into a seat adjustment agreement with the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) in the general election of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021