Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has continued to carry the baton over the alleged claims of interference in the NA-75 Daska by-polls, and how now accused the ruling party and agencies of being involved in the so-called conspiracy.
“Agencies, which come under Imran Khan, the vote thief, were involved [in the rigging],” she claimed while speaking to media persons in Lahore on Wednesday. The PML-N VP warned that she would “expose the names” if the government does not come clean.
A day earlier, she took to Twitter and claimed that she had the names of two people, adding  that the staff of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had been abducted and kept in one place all night. The results were changed in the presence of leading members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Since the elections occurred, Maryam Nawaz has been untiring in her pursuit of a recount, and during today’s presser, recalled the videos that she had shared on Twitter which purportedly showed the closure of polling stations “by design”. She claims that some stations were purposefully closed for nearly six hours.
“When [they saw] that despite this historic, blatant and naked rigging, PML-N was still in the lead, they kidnapped 20 officials in the garb of fog,” she said. “This is not me saying this, Election Commission’s press release is also saying it. It said that when they returned, results were altered.”
She insisted that a re-poll in only 20 stations was not enough when the election of Daska in its entirety was stolen.  The PML-N VP also urged the Election Commission to ensure that action is taken against the officials who were allegedly involved in rigging.
When asked a question about the open ballot ordinance, she replied that the opposition had taken a principled stance against the matter. “We received phone calls saying ‘please sit with Imran Khan and pass this legislation’ but we said no, we won’t give him any relief,” she told reporters.
“If you [PM Imran] drag the Supreme Court into this and make it a party in this dirty political game, we will expose you,” she warned, adding that if the SC chooses to offer any relief to the premier, it would be considered biased.
“My principled stance on this is that the Parliament should debate on this because this is a constitutional clause so an amendment can only be introduced by the Parliament but not [by] this fake government,” she declared.
Talking to media persons in Jati Umra on Sunday, the PML-N vice president had said that PTI had lost by-election in NA-75 Daska despite state terrorism, adding that the people of Daska fought for the democracy despite rigging in the elections and rejected sugar, gas and flour thieves.
Talking about alleged disappearance of presiding officers some polling stations, the PML-N leader had stated: “They talk about fog, was fog only in these 23 areas?”
Even before that, Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib on Saturday had said Maryam Nawaz’s demand for re-election in the constituency of NA-75 reflected a defeated mindset.
Talking to a private news channel, he had said that PML-N was promoter of Gullu Butt type of politics in the country but the present government was eliminating such politics.
Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Wednesday said that the PTI government was ready to accept PML-N demands for re-polling in 20 polling stations in NA–75.
He recalled that after the 2013 elections, when the PTI demanded opening of four constituencies, they refused to accept the demand. Finally the polling record of 4 constituencies was opened after long legal struggle by the PTI and the verdict vindicated
the PTI stance.
Talking to media persons, he said that opposition parties were representing the status quo for the continuation of sale and purchase of votes and horse-trading in politics. On the other hand, he added, Prime Minister Imran fully believed in strengthening of democracy through fair elections and transparency in the Senate elections.
Faraz said that PM Imran was striving for eradication of the practice of sale and purchase of votes and stood like a rock against the undemocratic practice.
He maintained that democracy would be strengthened if those candidates were elected who believed in party manifesto and philosophy of a party and not those who believed in power of money who would not only recover their own investment but also mint more money.
Additionally, he asserted that real representatives of the people could not come to the parliament through the use of money.
The minister said that the government also intended to introduce an electronic voting system in the general elections to ensure transparency, as in the past elections were marred by the allegations of rigging and malpractices.
He further said that Prime Minister Imran and his allied parties stood on the right side and history would highlight the representatives of ‘dark forces’ who wanted to open the door for horse trading in the elections. He added that as a Muslim and political worker, he believed that truth would eventually prevail and deceit and fraud would have to face retreat and defeat.
