Sher Afzal Marwat, a senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), explained that PTI lost more than 80 special seats in the national and provincial assemblies because of their own mistakes.
Marwat pointed out two main decisions that led to these losses.
Firstly, he mentioned that PTI’s decision to break off from allying with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Shirani (JUI-Shirani) and instead forming a deal with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Nazriati (PTI-N) was a major setback. Marwat questioned who was responsible for this decision, which resulted in the cancellation of the previous alliance.
Marwat suggested that PTI should conduct an internal investigation to find out who made these decisions. He believed that if these decisions hadn’t been made, PTI wouldn’t have lost its electoral symbol. He also mentioned that PTI candidates could have still participated in elections under JUI-S even after losing their symbol.
Before the elections, PTI lost its electoral symbol because the Election Commission of Pakistan found issues with PTI’s intra-party elections. The Supreme Court supported the Election Commission’s decision.
Additionally, Marwat highlighted another significant mistake which was allying with Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) to secure special seats. Marwat claimed that they were forced to ally with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) because of threats regarding their alliance with MWM. He blamed these flawed decisions for the loss of over 80 seats for PTI.