ISLAMABAD – Five legislators of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have sent defamation notices to party chief Imran Khan for leveling allegations that they sold their votes during the recently concluded Senate elections.
The notice has been sent on Monday by Qurban Ali Khan, Yaseen Khalil, Abdul Haq Khan, Zahid Durrani and Ubaidullah Mayar who were among the 20 ‘tainted’ lawmakers named and shamed by the PTI chief during a press conference last month.
The politicians have demanded an apology within 14 days and payment of damages amounting to Rs1 billion or face legal proceedings.
Qurban Ali, in his defamation notice, termed the allegations against him as totally false and defamatory and further alleged that he was sacked from the post of adviser to CM Pervaiz Khattak after he refused to illegally appoint people according to latter’s wishes.
In a press conference, Imran Khan had revealed the names of 20 MPAs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he believed were allegedly involved in horse-trading during the elections for the Upper Chamber of the Parliament in March.
The lawmakers mentioned by Imran had denied the allegations with some threatening to disclose “secrets” of party leadership, including Khattak and Imran Khan himself.
The Senate elections held on March 3 for 52 seats were marred by the allegations of horse-trading as all the major political parties raised concerns over alleged purchase and selling of votes.
The PTI chief had decided to take action against those who had sold their loyalties to other parties after the party faced flak on social media.
