ISLAMABAD: On Wednesday, the majority of the PTI-backed independent candidates who won seats in the national and provincial assemblies turned in their affidavits to the Election Commission, formally becoming members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
Nine members of the Sindh Assembly, 106 members of the Punjab Assembly, 85 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, and 89 MNAs have all submitted their affidavits.
The PTI’s assertion that it had secured 93 NA seats is supported by the affidavits submitted; three party leaders—Omar Ayub Khan, Barrister Gohar Khan, and Ali Amin Gandapur—did not file affidavits, and the ECP had not yet announced the candidacy of one candidate, Dawar Kundi.
Since Mr. Ayub and Mr. Gohar want to run in the PTI’s intra-party elections, they purposefully chose not to file affidavits to join the SIC. Since Mr. Gandapur has been nominated by the PTI to be the chief minister of KP, he did not file the affidavit either.
Party argues that the country will not accept a “government with stolen mandate,” yet Barrister Gohar and three other people have not signed up to monitor PTI intra-party votes.
All of the MPAs and notified MNAs—aside from Mr. Ayub and Mr. Gohar—have joined the SIC, according to PTI sources.
Although their affidavits have also been sent to the ECP, Chaudhry Ilyas and Brig (retired) Muhammad Aslam Ghumman, two MNAs-elect, were not present. According to a party insider, “We hope we will receive our due portion from seats that are reserved in the national as well as provincial assemblies.”
In the meantime, the PTI has claimed that the country will not accept the “PDM 2.0” and that the PML-N as well as PPP will establish the government under a stolen mandate.
It said that by making fun of the nation’s laws and Constitution, the chief election commissioner supported the “regime change conspiracy.”
A representative for the party stated that it was inappropriate and offensive that a group that had been “rejected by the nation” had come together once more to perform a “drama” of PDM 2.0 in the nation.
In spite of Imran Khan’s imprisonment, the party’s election symbol, the “bat,” being stolen, and challenges to conducting polls, he asserted that the country had given the PTI an unambiguous mandate to form governments in the Center, Punjab, and KP.
According to Form-45s, he asserted, the people have awarded the PTI a resounding majority of 180 seating in the National Assembly.
The party spokeswoman stated, “It is past time we took a lesson from past and listened to the public obligation, as Pakistan was forced to suffer through terrible events like the downfall of Dhaka as a consequence of daylight poll fraud.”
He claimed that the descendants of those who “dismembered Pakistan” were once more actively aiding the government in its attempts to subvert the will of the people.
He did, however, make it plain that the people of Pakistan will put an end to any attempt to denigrate democracy, the Constitution, or the process of stealing their votes. He promised that PTI would thwart any efforts to pilfer the popular mandate.
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
