Will form governments both at centre, provinces: Imran Khan’s party

mangaloretoday.com/ndtv

Islamabad, Feb 09, 2024: Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has claimed it was emerging as the lead party in polls held Thursday and would form governments both at the centre and in provinces, as it thanked people on his behalf for speaking up via a "massive turnout" despite attempt to undermine their will.

 

In a statement issued late Thursday night, PTI chief organiser Omar Ayub Khan and PTI Parliamentary Leader in Senate Barrister Ali Zafar said that preliminary results were very encouraging for their party, showing it as convincingly leading on an overwhelming number of seats across the country.

They said Imran Khan showed the country a new path by expressing unwavering faith in the constitution, law and democracy despite the "worst state interference in the electoral process and pre-poll rigging".

They said the polling process in several constituencies across the country, especially in Karachi, were delayed due to constant obstructions.

However, they lauded people for showing their full confidence in Imran Khan and his true agenda of "Haqeeqi Aazadi" (real freedom) through the power of vote.

"After clear and visible chances of victory of Imran Khan’s candidates in the preliminary results, the process of results got slowdown alarmingly, besides surfacing reports of closure of the screens in the offices of returning officers, which was very concerning," they said.

Any attempt to steal people’s mandate through a closed-room conspiracy would have very negative and fatal consequences, they said.

In total, 266 National Assembly seats were up for grabs out of 336, but polling was postponed on at least one seat after a candidate was killed in a gun attack in Bajaur. Another 60 seats are reserved for women and 10 for minorities, and are allotted to the winning parties based on proportional representation Attacking former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N, the two PT leaders claimed that the "fugitive" who was brought back to the country under the ’London Plan’ through the state patronage was facing a clear defeat on both the constituencies.

They said people would not accept any attempt to forcibly convert the defeat into victory through poll manipulation.

They called upon the party workers to focus on getting signed and sealed results. Party candidates and workers should neither leave polling stations without obtaining the signed and stamped Form 45 (Result of the Count) nor leave the offices of the ROs without obtaining the stamped Form 47 (provincial results).

They urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure immediate release of the results rather than working as a "facilitator to tamper with the election results".

The PTI and the nation would not tolerate any such poll manipulation bids, the party said.

They said the PTI was emerging as the lead party both at the centre and in provinces and would form governments conveniently, which would ensure the release of their leader from jail and become prime minister again.