— Won’t allow Imran to ‘blackmail’ institutions, warns the minister
LAHORE: As PTI is set to get its candidate elected as the Punjab chief minister after its triumph in the Punjab by-polls, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah says that the PML-N will not let the PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervez Elahi become the provincial chief executive easily on July 22.
The minister gave this statement while speaking on Geo News programme Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath Monday night. He said that the defeat in the Punjab by-elections was a temporary loss which the PML-N will recover from in the next election.
“These 20 seats were of PTI, five of which have been claimed by the PML-N. We will lead with a two-thirds majority when PML-N and PTI will come face to face,” Sanaullah said.
Earlier in the day, Rana Sana also alleged that former prime minister Imran Khan was trying to put pressure on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by making claims of vote fraud in the Punjab by-election despite the fact that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party swept the poll.
“We will not allow Imran to blackmail the institutions,” he said while addressing a press conference along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb.
He said that no one could question the transparency of the by-elections which he insisted, despite a variety of complaints posted on social media, were held in a free and fair manner.
“The elections would also be held in the same way in the future,” he said.
The interior minister said it was Khan who made records of election rigging in his tenure. “Traditionally, a party that lost elections complained about the rigging, but it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that had established a new tradition by expressing full confidence in the results of Punjab by-polls.”
He said the PML-N strongly condemned the “vile onslaught” launched by Khan on Sikandar Sultan Raja, the chief election commissioner. All the political parties, including the PML-N, would not let Khan humiliate the heads of the institutions.
The nation had full confidence in the ECP and all of its members, he claimed, adding: “We believe in the democratic traditions and reject Khan’s allegations regarding rigging in the Punjab by-polls.”
The PML-N had brought power outages to an end and made the country nuclear power, he said, vowing the ruling party would win the next general election with a thumping majority.
He said it seemed that Khan’s persistent attack on Raja was meant to pressurise him as the decision of the funding case against PTI had already been reserved. He said the institutions should not bow to Khan’s pressure and exercise their powers.
Recalling the episode of the 2021 Daska by-election where the government allegedly abducted the polling staff and attempted to rig the poll in its favour, the minister said no major incident was reported from the Punjab where the by-polls were held in a peaceful way and its results were accepted by all the candidates.
Sana said there were some 3,140 polling stations in by-polls and with the grace of God, only minor incidents were reported from seven or eight towns.
He said the PML-N did introspection over losing the seats in Punjab and reviewed its overall strategy during the by-polls. It appeared that the constituents were angry with the PML-N’s candidates for not carrying out the development work in the respective constituencies.
Sana said Khan would have dissolved the Punjab and KP assemblies if he really wanted to force a general election.
He said Khan was against Raja because he had ordered re-election in the by-election of Daska after rigging allegations were proved by the then-PTI government.
