Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, on Monday said that his successor Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s brother and PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League (N)) supremo Nawaz Sharif was afraid that Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) “is more popular than the ruling coalition,” and hence the government was making “deliberate attempts to delay elections”.
Khan has been reiterating that the “only solution” to the country’s current political and economic crisis was “immediate and transparent” elections.
It may be mentioned here that Khan was ousted as the country’s premier amid claims that he was unable to tackle the economic challenges.
Speaking to local media network News agency, Khan also accused the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan (CEC) Sikandar Raja Sultan of sabotaging electronic voting machines (EVMs) with, and in support of, the Sharif government. “We had introduced EVMs to hold transparent elections in the country, but CEC Sikandar Raja sabotaged it with the support of PML-N,” he was quoted as saying, accusing the electoral watchdog of being biased.
The PTI Chairman also claimed that his party had “all the evidence” that Sharif’s ally – the Pakistan People’s Party – openly indulged in the rigging. “The Sindh election commissioner is on the provincial government’s payroll and we have already approached the judicial council against him,” he told the local media. “It is unfortunate that the country has not witnessed transparent polls to date,” he added.
Imran Khan, who was ousted in April following a no-confidence vote, got a boost a day ago by emerging victorious on six National Assembly seats in Sunday by-elections. His party reportedly managed to secure six out of eight National Assembly seats in the crucial by-election while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) clinched two – NA-157 Multan and NA-237 Karachi – which were bagged by the PTI in the 2018 general elections.