Pakistan: Imran Khan's PTI party decides to sit in Opposition at Centre, Punjab

A portrait of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan is seen amid flags of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the religious and political party Jamat-e-Islami (JI) as supporters attend a joint protest in Karachi on February 10.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Friday night announced that it will sit in opposition in the Centre and Punjab province as attempts to form the next government continue in the country, Dawn reported.

The decision was announced by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s barrister Ali Saif, a day after the party had named Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the prime minister and Aslam Iqbal as chief minister for Punjab.

Saif told the media that the party decided to sit in the opposition at the Centre and Punjab under the instructions of party founder Imran Khan, who is currently in jail.

“We decided to sit in opposition despite the reality that if we received seats according to our votes and the results were not changed then maybe today we might have been in the Centre with 180 seats. We have the evidence that our candidates won,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

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In the elections held on February 8, Independent candidates – a majority of whom were backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats.

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N won 75 seats while Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came third with 54 seats.

Both PML-N and PPP then announced a post-poll alliance on Tuesday. Pakistan’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) with its 17 seats have also agreed to support them.

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To form a government in Pakistan, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.

Imran Khan’s party calls for nationwide protest

Earlier in the day, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf announced nationwide protests in the country against the “unprecedented, massive [and] brazen rigging” in the recent elections.

The party claims that it won “180 National Assembly seats & a two-thirds majority in Parliament” but that “it was cut down to half by the illegitimate, fascist regime.”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Information Secretary Raoof Hasan said during a press conference that 2024 would be remembered for the “biggest voter fraud” in Pakistan’s history against the party and its candidates.

“According to our estimates, out of 177 [National Assembly] seats which were supposed to be ours, only 92 have been given to us. And 85 seats have been taken away from us fraudulently,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

Hassan claimed there was a huge difference in the numbers of votes polled for National Assembly and provincial assembly seats. He also pointed out that the number of rejected votes, in certain cases, exceeded the margin of victory.

Another party leader, Shandana Gulzar, alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed candidates won 1.25 million votes from Karachi but strangely could not win a single seat.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a petition filed by a citizen seeking to declare the recently held general elections null and void, reported The Express Tribune.

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