PTI women workers protest in Lahore over allotment of tickets for reserved seats

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) women workers on Friday protested outside the chairman's secretariat in Lahore over the allotment of tickets for reserved seats for women. 

The angry workers surrounded the party's election cell member, Aliya Hamza, accusing her of making changes in the allotment of tickets for the reserved seats. 

The disgruntled workers demanded that the allotment of tickets be revisited, asking that the decision be made on merit.

It is not the first time that women workers of the party have protested over the allotment of tickets. They had earlier expressed dissatisfaction on the matter by staging a protest outside both, the chairman secretariat in Lahore and PTI chief Imran Khan's Bani Gala residence in Islamabad. 

Internal rifts within the party have been rife over what party workers have referred to as 'unfair ticket distribution.' 

Today marked the fifth consecutive day of a protest that party workers, primarily belonging to the NA-154 and NA-12 constituencies, are staging outside Imran's Bani Gala residence. The workers have said that former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sikandar Bosan should not have been allotted a party ticket, accusing Imran of neglecting ideological workers at the time of allotting tickets. 

Earlier today, PTI vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a press conference said the party workers had a right to protest. However, he refuted allegations of nepotism in the allotment of tickets.  

The PTI chief has failed to placate protesting party workers despite assurances that he will review the party's decisions regarding awarding tickets for the upcoming elections.