Berating the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry Sunday feared that the ruling party may escape elections with the help of its "partners".
Taking to Twitter, the PTI leader expressed hope that the ruling PML-N would not use its “subsidiary” Election Commission (ECP) to run away from the general elections.
"They [PML-N] would be chased,” he wrote, adding that in a democratic country, it is the people who have the ultimate authority to make decisions.
He said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) coalition government should acknowledge the people’s rights.
A day earlier, the PTI chairman announced the dissolution of the assemblies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on December 23 (Friday).
The PTI chief's announcement — who was flanked by Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Mahmood Khan — came during his address to the party's workers and supporters via video link from his residence in Lahore's Zaman Park.
In his address, Imran thanked both chief ministers for "sacrificing" their respective governments for the "betterment of the country" and announced that his party would now be starting its election campaign.
He also warned the government against employing tactics to delay the elections and said: "I have also spoken to my lawyers [...] it would be against the rules to delay the polls past 90 days."
“The Constitution of Pakistan directs that the ECP should always be ready to conduct elections in 90 days. I know it will try its best not to do so,” he said.
In response, Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah and Special Assistant to Prime Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira reiterated that the government's stance still stands — elections for assemblies that will be dissolved and by-polls on the constituencies that are vacated.
Talking about PML-N’s strategy to counter the PTI’s move, the minister said that the parliamentary party decided to opt for the "constitutional option".
Sanaullah asked Imran to dissolve the assemblies immediately, saying that there is no need to wait for December 23.
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