News Desk |
Pakistan Tehreek E Insaf defector and former MNA Ayesha Gulalai of the NA-1 Peshawar managed to bag all of 30 votes, according to latest election 2018 updates, in her contest against Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chief Imran Khan in Islamabad’s NA-53 constituency. The PTI-G Chief had also contested the polls from three other constituencies, all of which she has lost.
It was also alleged that the PTI defector had made these claims out of angst for the fact that the party leadership had refused to award her a ticket in the general elections.
Ms. Gulalai had registered her own party in February this year as a faction of PTI, naming it PTI-G (Gulalai) and had announced that she will contest against the PTI Chairman. She had done this while holding a reserved NA seat awarded to her by the Tehreek e Insaf.
In August 2017, the PTI MNA stirred up quite the controversy when she alleged that the PTI Chairman Imran Khan had sent her inappropriate text messages and that it had been a continuous practice since 2013. She alleged in a press conference that the party leadership does not respect women and that she is raising her voice for all women workers in the party.
Read more: Ayesha Gulalai set to launch PTI-Gulalai on Friday
Immediately after, the women wing of the party disassociated itself from Ms. Gulalai’s claims and said that PTI maintains the highest decorum when it came to women. It was also alleged that the PTI defector had made these claims out of angst for the fact that the party leadership had refused to award her a ticket in the general elections.
She was also criticized for not resigning from her national Assembly seat that had been awarded to her by the party in the reserved quota for women. The PTI had requested the ECP to denotify Ms. Gulalai from her seat, which was later rejected.
Allegations of Amir Maqam, the PML-N leader from Swat having paid Ms. Gulalai to pull off the stunt also made rounds. The new elected Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan, in his opening speech to the house, said that Miss. Gulalai’s claims will be interrogated and that she will be given due protection.