Pakistan: Due to constitutional concerns, the PTI withdraws its parliamentary board from the Islamabad municipal elections
Pakistan: Citing non-compliance with the party constitution, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) withdrew their announcement of a parliamentary board for the February 15 local government elections in Islamabad, Dawn reported.
The action was taken only days after Firdous Shamim Naqvi, the PTI’s extra secretary general, said on December 27 that a seven-member parliamentary board would be established to propose candidates for the Islamabad local bodies elections.
Advocate Shoaib Shaheen, Ali Bukhari, Amir Mughal, Fouzia Arshad, Jamsheed Mughal, and Sheraz Kiani made up the board.
Salman Akram Raja, the secretary general of the PTI, then withdrew the announcement.The notice signed by Raja said, “This rescinds the notification dated December 27, 2025, regarding the formation of a parliamentary board for the nomination of candidates for the Islamabad local government elections.”
According to party insiders, the decision was made when it was discovered that the board had been established contrary to the PTI Constitution.
Dawn said that two people who were seen as close to former PTI leader Asad Umar were added to the board.
Salman Akram Raja and PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan were consulted on the matter, according to PTI Islamabad Region President Amir Mughal, who also noted that the party constitution forbids the creation of a parliamentary board without the regional president’s approval.They both chose to remove the notice since I was unaware of it. They have now asked me for suggestions, and I anticipate receiving a fresh notice shortly,” Mughal said.
Mughal gave information on the election preparations, stating that nomination papers had been submitted for each of Islamabad’s 125 union councils.The party has submitted several nomination papers to each union council since each UC has nine members,” he stated.
Since the party has lost its electoral emblem, he said, PTI candidates would run for office under the Sunni Ittehad Council’s flag.Our candidates would run as Sunni Ittehad Council candidates as PTI has lost its electoral symbol,” Mughal said, Dawn reported.
The deadline for filing candidacy papers for the local government elections in Islamabad was Tuesday.