SUKKUR. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif said on Friday that ‘certain powers’ are making demands that aim to sabotage the upcoming general elections, DawnNews reported.

However, the  main opposition party’s leader, who was addressing the media at Sukkur airport, defended the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and said that its intentions were to hold free and fair elections.

Later, Nawaz addressed a public gathering in Kandiaro, Sindh, where he congratulated former MNA Zafar Ali Shah for joining the PML-N. Shah was previously a member of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

Nawaz said that PML-N’s position in Naushero Feroze, Shah’s constituency where Kandiaro is also located, would now be greatly strengthened.

In early January, Shah had announced that he was leaving the PPP for PML-N.

The former PPP leader has recently been known for criticising his party’s leaders over “their wrong policies”, especially regarding the revival of local bodies system in Sindh. During the recent by-polls in PS-21, Shah fielded his paternal nephew Zuhaib Shah against his own party’s candidate following his growing disenchantment with the PPP.

Shah had later accused the PPP of rigging the recently-held by-elections.