less than the resignation of the provincial government. Their main argument is that while Imran Khan kept demanding resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for poll rigging despite the fact that the PML-N had not supervised the 2013 exercise, the PTI government should step down because it rigged the polls, accepting the responsibility of fraud.
A KP minister made similar pleas to the opposition parties to postpone its June 10 protest call that a number of politicians used to make to the PTI about its sit-in. He received the same reply that the PTI used to give.
The PML-N is far ahead of all others in the GB elections, scoring the simple majority, which has enabled it to have its nominee as the chief minister without the help of any parliamentary group.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which ruled GB for five years after winning the 2009 elections, was eliminated. Even its former chief minister lost. It persisted with the electoral disaster it is facing since 2013.
The PPP’s election campaign in GB was totally lackluster and none of its prominent leaders ever visited the area for canvassing. On the other hand, Imran Khan himself campaigned for days by holding election rallies.
In the Mandi Bahauddin by-poll, the PML-N also performed well. It had lost the seat in 2013 to an independent (Ijaz Chaudhry), who later joined it. Subsequently, he switched to the PTI. His disqualification by the election tribunal, upheld by the Supreme Court, led to the by-election.
Respected Mumtaz Tarar belonging to the PML-N secured 77,884 votes and won hands down. His nearest rival was PTI’s Tariq Tarar, who bagged 40,570 ballots. The PPP nominee’s performance was absolutely the same as it was in 2013. The Jamaat-e-Islami significantly went down as its representative got 7,662 votes compared to its candidate’s 18,270 ballots in 2013.
While the PML-N is rightly thrilled over the victory, the PTI can console itself with the fact that its nominee bagged more votes than 2013. This time, its representative got 40,570 votes compared to 25,406 ballots in 2013.