'Would sit in the opposition in the KMC,' says PTI member Asad Aman   

PTI UC chairman from Karachi Asad Aman.—Geo News

Asad Aman, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) forward block refuted claims of external pressure on Saturday regarding the 32 PTI members who abstained from voting in the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor election. 

During an interview with Geo News, he said that their decision was not influenced by any external factors. He also said he would explain their choice to not vote for the Jamaat-e-Islami candidate, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, in response to the show-cause notice issued by the party.

Asad said that they would play the role of an Opposition against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with full force, while sitting on the opposition benches.

He also made it clear that they are accountable to the party, not to Hafiz Naeem.

It is noteworthy that 32 UC chairmen from PTI were absent during the voting for Karachi's mayoral elections on June 15th. The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) candidate had accused the PPP of kidnapping them in order to manipulate the election in favour of Murtaza Wahab.

However, the PPP countered the claim by asserting that the PTI members abstained from voting for Hafiz Naeem due to their own reservations, without any external influence.

Eventually, Murtaza Wahab of the PPP secured the position of Karachi's Mayor with 173 votes, while Hafiz Naeem of the JI followed him with 160 votes.