Daily Times

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief and Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Fazlur Rehman Wednesday vowed to continue struggling with the PML-N to overthrow the incumbent government.

In a statement, Fazl thanked PML-N Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for congratulating him for the JUI’s success in the recent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections against the ruling party.

The JUI has won the most seats in the 2021 LG polls in KP, while PML-N has won two seats according to the unofficial and unverified results received so far.

Fazl said JUI-F and PML-N will continue to struggle for complete restoration of democracy, provision of right to vote to the people, and overthrow the incumbent government. “Our joint struggle will continue till complete restoration of democracy, provision of right to vote to the people, ousting of this selected government and Pakistan’s return to the way of a better and more sustainable future,” Fazl added.

Earlier in a tweet, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated Fazl for his party’s success in the first phase of the LG polls. The ruling PTI suffered a major setback after the JUI-F candidate won the seat for the post of Peshawar mayor in the local government elections held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to unofficial and unverified results.

The PTI not only faced a setback in the mayoral elections, but was also defeated by the opposition party in the tehsil council election. In the first phase of local bodies’ elections in KP, elections were to be held for 61 tehsil councils and five city councils; however, no elections were held in Baka Khel tehsil and Dera Ismail Khan city council.

According to the initial plan, polling was to be held for five city mayor seats, however, polling in Dera Ismail Khan was postponed following the murder of Awami National Party’s candidate. Hence, polling was only conducted in Mardan, Peshawar, Kohat, and Bannu.