ISLAMABAD, OCT 17: Chairman PTI Imran Khan is addressing a press conference after the party meeting held to chalk out the next line of action in the wake of a landslide victory in Sunday’s by-polls.
Khan alleged that the elections were held in the constituencies where PTI was weak and the ruling coalition fielded joint candidates to ensure his party’s defeat — but they failed.
He said that the government did not wish to hold elections and used floods as an excuse. “They said that there were floods. But in the constituencies where elections were held, floods did not have an effect there.”
Khan claimed that he lost Karachi’s Malir by-polls to a PPP candidate — Abdul Hakeem Baloch — as it was rigged.
“Sindh’s election commissioner was on the provincial government’s payroll. We reject [Malir’s] by-election and demand re-election,” the PTI chairman said.
He said the nation does not accept this legislature and wants new polls across the country.
Khan announces decisions of party’s senior leadership
- PTI to call special session of KP, Punjab assemblies on torture of its leaders, journalists;
- PTI senators to file petition against torture of its leaders;
- Party to write letters to int’l oragnisations — human rights committee in Geneva, UN special rapporteur on torture, EU special representative on human rights, int’l parliamentary union;
- Long march to be held any time soon.
Earlier, PTI leader Faisal Javed said chairman Khan would soon announce the course of action regarding long march after consulting with the PTI leadership.
Javed said the party’s decision on the final long march call would be revealed after the meeting.
Former prime minister Imran Khan won the majority of seats in by-polls on Sunday, building forward momentum in his drive to push the six-month-old Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government into announcing an early general election.
The PTI chairman contested seven of eight seats and secured six, while PPP, part of the ruling coalition, claimed the other two seats.
While Khan will have to quit from all but one of the seats won — and polls will have to follow — the victory indicates his political narrative was popular among voters.
The cricket-turned-politician, who was sent home through a no-confidence vote in April, has been addressing huge public meetings across Pakistan demanding early elections.
The PTI’s key meeting, chaired by Imran Khan, was primarily held to decide on when to push their strategic envelope for mounting pressure on the government in the shape of a final ultimatum for early elections.
The meeting also consulted on finalising a date for the long march, while the report on the initial results of the by-elections also came under review.
