The former prime minister Imran Khan has called 20 members of the Punjab assembly (MPAs), who were recently unseated by the Election Commission for voting against party lines, “lotas” (turncoats).
The party leadership has repeatedly claimed that these 20 men and women won the 2018 election due to the PTI but later turned against the party in the election for chief minister Punjab by voting for the PTI’s rival candidate, Hamza Shehbaz.
Is there truth to the claim?
Not entirely.
Out of the 20 defecting MPAs, 11 politicians won the 2018 general election independently and joined the Imran Khan-led party after the polls, on the insistence of businessman and former PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen. This means that they won due to their own vote bank and not due to the support of the PTI.
In fact these men later helped the PTI form government in Punjab and elect Usman Buzdar as chief minister.
Who are these 11 men?
1) Ghulam Rasool Sangha who won from PP 83 Khushab.
2) Saeed Akbar Khan Nawani who won from PP 90 Bhakkar.
3) Muhammad Ajmal who won from PP 97 Faisalabad.
4) Faisal Hayat who won from PP 125 Jhang.
5) Meher Muhammad Aslam who won from PP 127 Jhang.
6) Muhammad Salman who won from PP 217 Multan.
7) Fida Hussain who won from PP 237 Bahawalnagar.
8) Basit Sultan who won from PP 272 Muzaffargarh. He later vacated the seat, which was won by his mother, Zahra Batool, on a PTI ticket.
9) Muhammad Tahir Randhawa who won from PP 282 Layyah.
10) Mohsin Atta Khan Khosa who won from PP 288 Dera Ghazi Khan.
11) Raja Sagheer Ahmed who won from PP 7 Rawalpindi.
