PTI may return to power in Dec, claims Asad Qaiser

In the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict on reserved seats, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser claimed that his party may be in a position to form government in December after securing “magic number” required to oust the incumbent rulers.

“I hope that the situation [for the party] will improve by December and I believe that we will get enough seats [in the National Assembly] to form a government,” he said while speaking on Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath'.

The PTI leader said that his party would mull over a "no-confidence motion" against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after its attaining required strength in the lower house of parliament.

"Right now, our numbers [in the lower house] are not enough," said Qaiser while responding to a question. [...] after achieving the required number we might advance towards no-trust move [against the incumbent premier]."

"After getting into power, we will review our numbers. We would try to get a fresh mandate afterwards," he added.

Regarding the reserved seats' verdict, the former NA speaker said that the incumbent government was making all-out efforts to halt allocation of reserved seats to the former ruling party.

He, however, pinned hopes on the judiciary for wrapping up the party's petitions against the alleged manipulation of February 8 election results.

Qaiser said that party was looking towards the judiciary for early verdicts on the petitions for its "successful candidates who won election on the basis of Form 45".

He added that the verdicts on the petitions lodged with the election tribunals would also increase the strength of the PTI lawmakers in the assemblies.

He hoped that by December this year, PTI may be in a position to form its government in the Centre.

He blamed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) for the political turmoil. The PTI leader said that free and fair elections would be the only remedy for the country's crisis.

Commenting on the ongoing hunger strike, Qaiser said that his party "will continue to register its protests within the constitutional limits and is conveying its narrative to the masses”.

"Hunger strike helps us promote our point of view. It is a very effective way across the globe to register protests. We are going to organise more protests and rallies in the coming days," he added.

The embattled PTI started a daily hunger strike on Tuesday (yesterday) to demand the release of the incarcerated ex-premier Imran and other leaders.

The party has established camps outside the Parliament House in Islamabad and the Punjab Assembly in Lahore where token hunger strikes would be staged on a daily basis from 3pm to 8pm.

Rejecting the federal government's allegations of having anti-state motives, Qaiser said, "The party founder has clarified that national interests are a top priority for him and the PTI stands by the security forces."