Daily Times

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said on Sunday that the Election Commission of Pakistan should notify the victory of PTI candidate Ali Asjad Malhi in by elections of NA 75 as the people of Daska voted largely in favour of the ruling party’s candidate.

He was addressing journalists alongside Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Usman Dar, Special Assistant to Chief Minister Punjab, Firdous Ashiq Awan and candidate of NA 75 Ali Asjad Malhi.

He said that the PML-N leadership was frustrated as the anti-state narrative of Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was gradually losing support due to the mass acceptance of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He said the PML-N was in the habit of indulging in politics of intimidation, hooliganism and money and they repeated this practice by sending vandalism specialists Rana Sanaullah, Javed Latif and others to pollute the atmosphere of the election.

He also said that the assassination of workers on the polling day was done under the patronage of Rana Sanaullah, the man responsible for Model Town killings.

PML-N leaders during their election campaign in Daska used to say that they would win the election with the power of the gun.

He said due to mass acceptance of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s narrative, the PTI got more votes in Daska and Wazirabad constituencies in recent by elections as compared to 2018.

He said that the government was working to introduce electronic voting to ensure transparency. Legislation was being enacted to give the right of vote to expatriate Pakistanis as well.

He thanked the people of Daska for reposing confidence over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the by elections.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also said his ministry has developed a technology for electronic voting which would be transferred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) soon.

The technology has been developed with the support of National Institute of Electronics, National University of Science and Technology and COMSATS and it would help ensure transparency in the election process through electronic voting.

Chaudhry Fawad said we had also presented an election reforms bill for adopting electronic voting system in elections to end malpractices.

The minister stated that the opposition complained of rigging in the by-polls only in the constituency where Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate won however their own candidates won in Nowshera and Wazirabad which they accepted happily.

Chaudhry Fawad said that we should have raised allegations of rigging when Maryam Nawaz in her tweet announced the election result late night at 1:00 am, declaring her victory.

Rejecting the baseless claims of Maryam Nawaz regarding delay in results in Daska, Chaudhry Fawad said “We do not live on Mars and are well aware of the fog situation in the area.”

He demanded the ECP to issue formal notification about winning of PTI candidate, Ali Asjad Malhi from NA-75 (Daska).

“We have not been celebrating the victory of our candidate due to the deaths of two persons near the polling station in Daska as we are here to express our condolences to the bereaved family members”, he said.

The victory of Ali Asjad Malhi would be celebrated on our next visit, he added.

Chaudhry Fawad also stated that the videos of horse trading have become public now and the masses had seen the real faces of those involved in this practice.

“We want to end the practice of rigging in the elections and have been demanding that elections should be open which is not acceptable for the opposition”, he said. The minister condemned the attack on Geo and Jang Media Groups central office by protestors in Karachi and asked the police to take action against those involved.