PML-N decides to contest by-polls on NA-122, NA-154

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in a meeting headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday decided not to challenge the verdicts of election tribunals de-seating its legislators in NA-122, Lahore and NA-154, Lodhran and to contest against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the by-elections.
The PML-N leaders agreed in taking on the PTI in the polls and evolved a strategy to bring Imran Khan forward to contest Lahore’s polls in NA-122 where Sardar Ayaz Sadiq defeated him in the 2013 general elections. The decision on NA-125, Lahore, the seat of Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, would be taken after he returns from his official foreign visit. He too had been aspiring to contest elections instead of knocking at the doors of the court but the PML-N leadership compelled him to seek relief from the court.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Information Minister Senator Pervaiz Rashid said the PML-N would contest the by-elections on the vacant seats and will defeat the PTI with an even bigger margin with the help of the people. After the consultative meeting at the PM House, he criticised the PTI chairman over his alleged politics of agitation and maintained that the PML-N would teach Imran Khan a lesson with the support of the people in the upcoming by-polls and local bodies elections.
“Imran Khan cannot face the people and this is why he is making excuses to escape re-election in NA-122. But we will not let him run away.” He asked the PTI chief to contest by-elections instead of hiding behind the allegations against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as it is the same election commission under which Imran won many seats and contested most recently in Haripur where he lost badly. But now he is trying to run away, alleged Rashid. He recalled that the sit-in damaged the image of the PTI to a great extent as the party lost badly against the PML-N in the subsequent by-polls.
Pervaiz Rashid pointed out that his party defeated the PTI in Haripur by more than 47,000 votes. “We will once again go to the people and will win their confidence as per the tradition of the party.”
He said that PML-N leaders Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif and PPP leader Benazir Bhutto had been forcibly exiled yet Imran failed to win the elections.
The minister said Ayaz Sadiq’s lawyer Khawaja Haris is on a foreign trip and he will go to the Supreme Court (SC) for the correction of the record upon his arrival. He said Muhammad Siddique Baloch will also go the SC for the restoration of his candidature from NA-154 but no one will seek any injunction from the court.
The meeting at the PM House also took stock of the strategy for the upcoming local bodies polls in Punjab. Leader of the House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, federal ministers Pervaiz Rashid, Ahsan Iqbal, Ishaq Dar, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Khawaja Asif, Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali, Abdul Qadir Baloch, SAPM Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani, Irfan Siddiqui, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Barrister Zafarullah, Rana Sanaullah, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, Mian Javaid Latif, Ghulam Dastgir Khan, Senator Chaudhry Tanveer Khan also attended the meeting.
Ahsan Iqbal said the PML-N would get more votes in the by-elections than it secured in the general elections. He said peace is returning to the country, the confidence of the international community is picking up and foreign investment is increasing.
“By hurling threats of sit-ins, Imran Khan is trying to spoil this congenial atmosphere and the joys of the people,” he said.
Ahsan Iqbal said the prime minister always believes in reconciliation, as is evident from his policies.