Highlight
- Imran Khan’s PTI did a ‘clean sweep’ in the Punjab Assembly bypolls
- PTI has won 16 seats while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has won only three seats
- Chief Minister’s election will be held on July 22 on the orders of the Supreme Court
Imran Khan, Tehreek-e-Insafi, the party of the deposed prime minister of Pakistan Punjab’s crucial assembly bypolls on Sunday carried out a ‘clean sweep’, in a major setback to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, whose chief minister’s son Hamza Shahbaz is set to lose his post.
According to the unofficial results so far, the PTI has won 16 seats while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has won only three seats. An independent candidate has also won.
The election for the chief minister will be held on July 22 on the orders of the Supreme Court and PTI-PMLQ joint candidate Chaudhary Parvez Elahi is likely to be the new chief minister of the politically important province of Punjab.
The Sharif family’s ruling PML-N has accepted its defeat and even congratulated PTI president Khan for the “landfall victory” in the bypolls.
“We respect the mandate of the people. We now ask PTI-PMLQ to form the government in Punjab,” Prime Minister’s spokesperson Malik Ahmed Khan told news agency PTI.
Asked whether Prime Minister Shahbaz would dissolve the National Assembly to hold early general elections, he said: “The PML-N leadership will take a decision on this in consultation with its allies.”
Maryam Nawaz admits defeat
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has also accepted the defeat of her party. “We must accept our defeat with an open heart,” the daughter of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif said in a tweet.
He said that victory and defeat in politics is a part of the game. “We will see our weaknesses and overcome them,” she said.
In a tweet, Khan said, “Tehreek-e-Insaf is winning at least 15 seats. But it is very important for all our people on duty at all polling stations to keep their ground till official results are received from the returning officers.” Don’t leave the place.” ,
Senior party leader Asad Umar said Khan would announce the party’s strategy after the core committee meeting on Monday.
He said the only option left with the PML-N now is to “immediately call a fresh general election”.
Clashes during elections, arrests
Earlier on Sunday, by-elections were held in 20 assembly seats of Punjab in a relatively peaceful manner amid sporadic incidents of violence. Heavy police force was deployed in the five ‘sensitive’ constituencies of Lahore and Multan.
Some political activists were injured during clashes between PML-N and PTI supporters in Lahore. Violent clashes between two arch rivals were also reported in Muzaffargarh (about 350 km from Lahore). The turnout was reportedly low in most of the constituencies.
According to the Punjab Police, they arrested 15 people on charges of violence and carrying weapons from near various polling stations. Police have also arrested Shahbaz Gill a close aide of PTI President Imran Khan from Muzaffargarh To have an armed guard.
Khan strongly condemned Gill’s arrest and alleged that the PML-N-led Punjab government had “shamelessly violated the Supreme Court judgment” by resorting to rigging.
Today the Punjab government has openly violated the orders of the Supreme Court. [and] Election rules by openly using all government and state machinery to rig Punjab elections through illegal ballot stamping [and] Harassing voters while arresting PTI leaders,” he said.
He also accused the Election Commission of turning a blind eye and said that “courts should be opened now”. [and] act.”
Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb dismissed Khan’s claim of rigging, saying “not a single complaint” of rigging was received in these 20 constituencies. He said these were rigged, unlike the by-elections held during Imran Khan’s tenure as prime minister.
The contest was seen as a matter of ‘life and death’ for both major competitors, placing their political future in the province practically on the line.
As the opposition PTI managed to win a majority of seats, it is going to oust Hamza as the Chief Minister of Punjab, which Sharif, especially Hamza’s father Prime Minister Shahbaz, cannot tolerate, as it would undermine the junior Sharif’s regime. can be confined to the center only.
Khan’s victory could spark a new political crisis in Pakistan as Prime Minister Shahbaz’s rule in Islamabad will be cut short and his government is yet to receive the final approval of its financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund.
The PML-N had indicated that it may also quit the government if it loses the Punjab chief minister’s post to PTI. For PTI, today’s bypoll means more than just defeating Sharif and Zardari.
Khan and his comrades portrayed the contest as a “fight between good (his party) and evil (the ruling coalition at the Center and Punjab)” and it was a matter of sovereignty of the country due to alleged foreign (US) interference. . case
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The PML-N-led coalition needed at least 11 out of 20 seats to win a 186-member majority in the assembly for Hamza to survive as chief minister.
PTI-PMLQ joint candidate Chaudhary Parvez Elahi, who needed 13 numbers to oust Hamza, is in a convenient position to form the government.
The Punjab Legislative Assembly currently has 349 members: PTI has 163 MLAs and its ally PML-Q10. The PML-N has 163 members, while its coalition partner PPP has seven, four independents and one Rah-e-Haq party.
His party campaign was monitored by three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been in ‘self-exile’ in London since November 2019.