ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said the Election Commission of Pakistan postponed the by-polls in hope for his disqualification from the court.
In an interview with Senior Anchorperson Bol News Sami Ibrahim, Imran Khan said when they heard the court’s remarks, they thought that something could happen to Imran Khan such as he could be disqualified.
So they thought that why not they wait for his disqualification and then announce the polls, he maintained.
On postponement of the by-elections, the former prime minister said the coalition government lost the by-elections in Punjab despite enormous support from the ECP.
“They chose seats where the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) was apparently strong but after seeing the massive crowd attending the PTI rally in Chishtian where the PML-N was supposed to be strong they decided to postpone the elections,” he said. He said the people of Chishtian were aware of everything.
The PTI chief said never in the country’s history inflation had boosted so much. Imran feared shortage of grains this year because of flooding.
He dared former president Asif Ali Zardari to visit any place in Sindh without protocol. He said people would beat him as the people of Sindh were fed up of the Zardari mafia.
Imran Khan said flood affected Sindh the most because there was no drainage system for flood, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration swung into action and took measures to drain the water despite receiving heavy rains.
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He said the Sindh government populated routes of water in Sindh’s katcha areas and nullahs in Karachi, therefore the destruction was inevitable.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has postponed voting of by-elections in various constituencies of Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in view of catastrophic situation in the country due to floods.
According to ECP, by-elections were scheduled in National Assembly constituency of NA-157, Multan, and Provincial assembly of Punjab constituencies PP-139, Sheikhupra and PP-241, Bahawalnagar on Sunday.
Polling in NA-22, Mardan, NA-24, Charsadda, NA-31, Peshawar, NA-45, Kurram, NA 108, Faisalabad, NA-118, Nankana Sahib, NA-237, Malir, NA-239, Korangi, and NA-246, Karachi was to be held on 25th of this month, while by-election in PP-209, Khanewal was scheduled on 2nd of the next month.
The ECP said only the polling dates in the above mentioned constituencies have been postponed, while all the other procedure and steps will be completed as per schedule.
It said the decision to postpone the by-elections has been taken after getting proper feedback from the Interior Ministry according to which Pakistan Army, Rangers, and the Frontier Corps are busy in relief work for the flood affected people, maintaining internal security, and thwarting out terrorist activities in the country. It further said ensuring peaceful elections is the prime responsibility and priority of the Election Commission for which services of the Pakistan Army, Rangers and other security agencies were not available at the moment. Hence, decision to postpone the by-election was taken in the best interest of the public so that peaceful polling process can be ensured.
The Commission will announce new dates for the polling as soon as it finds availability of the law enforcement agencies’ personnel.
