Live: Elections 2024

Separate petitions have been filed before the Islamabad High Court through Barrister Ali Zafar against Imran Khan’s sentences in the Toshakhana and cipher cases.

The Toshakhana plea made the state and the accountability bureau respondents and urged the IHC to “suspend the execution of the conviction and sentence” imposed on Imran.

The petition pertaining to the cipher case made the state and Interior Ministry Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar respondents in the case. It urged the high court to set aside the conviction and sentence and acquit him of the charges.

It contended that the trial court passed the judgment in a hasty manner without providing the suspect an opportunity for a fair trial.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb said that after as election results were being compiled after polling on Feb 8, they were being shown on TV.

“Form 45 were floated on the media and social media beforehand […] when they were being shown on TV screens, they were being compiled,” she said, adding that she stated again and again that they were incorrect.

She said that an impression was created of winning or losing on a small percentage of results.

Speaking to Dawn News on the programme ‘Doosra Rukh’, PPP leader Khurshid Shah has said the party opposes the appointment of Ishaq Dar as the finance minister.

Asked if Dar can fix Pakistan’s economy, Shah replied: “Dar cannot save the economy; he was the one who damaged it.”

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Mustafa Kamal has said that his party wants a “working relationship” with all other political parties, not arguments.

In a post on X, Kamal said, “We have the mandate for this city (Karachi). We want a working relationship with all; the Peoples Party (PPP) should check its ranks.”

He termed the economic crisis as the biggest issue facing the country, saying that it was “connected to Karachi”.

The PTI has called for countrywide protests tomorrow (Saturday) against the “unprecedented, massive [and] brazen rigging” in the February 8 elections.

In a post on X, the PTI claimed that its “win of 180 National Assembly seats and a two-thirds majority in Parliament was cut down to half”.

While party leader Hammad Azhar said the protests were to take place at 2pm, the PTI stated the scheduled time as 12pm tomorrow.

PTI leader Hammad Azhar has called on his party ticket holders and workers as well as the public to “prepare for the historic and peaceful protest” that it will hold at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday) against alleged rigging in the recent elections.

In a post on X, Azhar said that rallies would be convened from “every union council”, but did not specify any location for the protests, saying they will be announced soon.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad, IPP leader Aun Chaudhry said he had come before the media to “expose Salman Akram Raja for who he really is” after the latter — a PTI-backed candidate who contested the Feb 8 polls — filed a petition with the Lahore High Court (LHC) over the results of NA-128; the two had contested the general elections from the constituency.

Chaudhry said he was the true winner of the NA-128 seat based on the Form 45 issued. “The Form 45 that you give is correct, but the one we give is incorrect?” he asked.

“I am sitting here today because you have compelled me to expose you. When you talk about my country, I will not stay quiet,” he said. “I have won, and I will claim this victory; this propaganda and these fake results you are spreading, I will not let this happen.”

Posing a question to Raja, Chaudhry asked: “Why was there no rigging in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? Where you have lost, you claim there was rigging. Where you won, there is no rigging.

“The organised rigging you did in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also be exposed,” he warned.

PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi has said the party will field its own candidates for president, National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman.

Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, his said that the PPP has pledged support for the PML-N for the prime minister’s election because the country “cannot afford another election right now”, adding that there was “no other option”.

“We are a majority party in Balochistan currently, and the way we’re supporting political parties in Punjab and the Centre, we hope to receive the same support in Balochistan,” he said.

He added that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will soon announce candidates for the position of chief minister in Balochistan and Sindh.

Sardar Mohammad Riaz, the MPA-elect from PK-33 (Kolai-Palas), has joined independents backed by the PTI.

“I have joined PTI as people of my constituency are still living without basic amenities, and I want to bring Kolai-Palas among prosperous and developed districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Riaz, who earlier met Ali Amin Gandapur, the nominee for the chief minister slot, expressed optimism that the new provincial government would launch such development programmes which could improve the living standard of the people in remote parts of the province like Kolai-Palas.

Two of three seats of the provincial assembly in Upper Kohistan, Lower Kohistan and Kolai-Palas districts were won by the independents not backed by PTI, and one of them so far joined the latter.

PPP leader Faisal Karim Kundi noted that a PTI delegation visited the JUI-F yesterday. Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, he said that it was good that the two sides gathered.

Kundi said that JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had alleged that his party’s mandate was stolen. “If it was stolen, then who was it given to? To the same delegation who visited him yesterday.”

Talking about Fazl’s comments on the alleged involvement of ex-spymaster Lt Gen Faiz Hameed in the no-confidence move against Imran Khan, Kundi noted that the former army official was posted at the Peshawar Corps Commander at the time.

He further said that Fazl was the head of the Pakistan Democratic Movement at the time and could have stopped the no-confidence move, adding that the JUI-F chief benefited the most from the move.

Repolling is being held today at seven polling stations of Balochistan’s NA-253 (Ziarat/Harnai) and PB-9 (Kohlu), according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

In an earlier statement, it had said that polls could not be conducted on February 8 at the said stations due to poor law and order.

Relevant instructions had been issued to the provincial chief secretary and police chief as well as other law enforcement agencies, the ECP stated.

After re-polling was held in 25 polling stations of Kohat’s PK-90 constituency, PTI-backed independent candidate Aftab Alam, who had already been declared the winner on Feb 8, has retained the seat.

Alam dealt a stunning defeat to the runner-up, Amjid Afridi of PPP, a three-time winner on the same seat.

Earlier, Alam was leading with 41,043 votes, while Afridi had received 33,785 votes. According to the fresh tally, Alam bagged 45,506 votes and Afridi 34,315 votes.

Read more here.

The Supreme Court has fixed a petition seeking to declare the Feb 8 general elections null and void for hearing. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Mussarat Hilali, will take up the plea on February 19 (Monday).

Filed by a citizen named Ali Khan, the petition urges the court to order new elections within 30 days to be held under the direct supervision and oversight of the judiciary “to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability”. It also seeks a stay order to stop the formation of a new government till the case is decided.

The Election Commission of Pakistan and the federal government have been made respondents in the case.

BNP-M President Sardar Akhtar Mengal has predicted that the new government will collapse within one and a half years as people have not given majority to any party in the recent elections.

In a video message, Mengal said, “The new government comprising two to three parties could not be run for more than one and a half years.”

In view of the past experience of coalition governments one can say that coalition partners will blackmail each other as happened in the past, he pointed out.

Read more here.

The United States is concerned about reports of intimidation and voter suppression in Pakistan’s election, Reuters quotes the White House as saying.

“We are watching this very, very closely,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, expressing concern about “intimidation and voter suppression.”

“International monitors are still taking a look at those tallies, I’m not going to get ahead of that process,” he added about the vote count.

His comments came after the Foreign Office once again rejected international criticism of the election process, saying polls were an internal, sovereign affair of Pakistan.

Moonis Elahi, the son of PTI President Parvez Elahi, has claimed that “people close to” PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif said he was “totally against” bringing a vote of no confidence against ex-premier Imran Khan.

He made the claim in a post on X, where he asked PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb if former premier Shehbaz Sharif convinced Nawaz to allow a vote of no confidence against Imran.

The PTI is expected to hold a press conference in Islamabad today where it said it would present “original and signed Form-45s as proof of extensive electoral fraud in compilation” of the election results.

PTI leader Salman Akram Raja would lead the event, scheduled for 2pm at the capital’s Marriott Hotel.

As the PTI initiates talks with its bitter rival JUI-F, a faction within PML-N has also advised the Sharif family to extend an olive branch to Imran Khan’s party, a party leader has told Dawn.

However, any thaw in the animosity between the two parties is unlikely in the near future as the leadership is “in no mood” to extend any friendly gestures to the PTI.

The initial suggestion for a reconciliatory approach with all parties was proffered by senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique, who proposed the idea of a national government, having representation of all parties, including the PTI-backed independent candidates who won on Feb 8.

Similar sentiments were expressed by another PML-N leader, who said that the fight with PTI “needs to end”.

On the flip side, a PML-N leader close to Maryam Nawaz Sharif told Dawn that the leadership was in no mood for reconciliation with Mr Khan’s party.

Read more here.

PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub has claimed that the party-backed MNA-elect from Sialkot has been “abducted” and “is being forced” to leave the party and join the PML-N.

In a post on X, Ayub said he condemned “this rigging process and enforced disappearances in the strongest words possible”.

PTI lawyer Abuzar Salman Niazi has claimed that Brigadier (rtd) Aslam Ghumman, the party’s MNA-elect from Sialkot’s NA-74, has been “abducted”.

The X account of the PTI’s Gujrat chapter also claimed the same, saying Ghumman was “abducted by unknown people”.

PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique has called former premier and PTI founder Imran Khan the “biggest beneficiary and the one responsible for the political tug-of-war” in the country.

Reacting to the recent talks between the PTI and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam—Fazl (JUI-F), Rafique remarked that the PTI might now also approach the PPP’s Asif Ali Zardari in “another U-turn move”.

The Awami National Party has ruled out negotiations with the PTI, claiming it had stolen ANP’s mandate.

In a statement, ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that PTI senior leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser had contacted the party leadership.

However, Hussain said that ANP was of the view that under the prevailing circumstances negotiations with PTI as a party was not appropriate.

Hussain said that PTI was being given government through rigging in elections and in such a situation the ANP had the only option to hold protest rallies. “ANP has been defeated and PTI was supported,” he said.

He said his party had already announced its plan of holding protests from Feb 20 against election rigging, alteration of results and use of money.

PML-N leader Khawaja Asif has called out the double standards of politicians who do not refrain from hurling corruption allegations at each other or using the religious card but they align together when their interests are at stake.

In a post on X, the former defence minister said on the one hand all the political parties were accusing each other of being beneficiaries of rigging and on the other hand they were talking about joint protests and even government formation.

“In these circumstances, if the people, who are watching us all, adopt the culture of moral and social degradation, who will be responsible for it?” he asked.

“Our first responsibility is the high moral education of the people by becoming a role model,” Asif concluded. “We are managing their moral decline by our actions.”

Hitting out at criticism of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif over alleged rigging in the general elections, party stalwart Javed Latif has said everyone will be left silence if a few facts about the party supremo regarding Feb 8 are revealed.

Former finance minister Ishaq Dar has said that the second round of the PML-N and PPP joint meetings between their coordination committees was completed in which matters regarding government formation progressed.

In a post on X, the PML-N leader said it was decided that the third consultation meeting of the coordination committees would be held over the weekend.

Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar and Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan participated in the meeting on behalf of PML-N while Murad Ali Shah, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Saeed Ghani, and Nadeem Afzal Chan took part from PPP’s side.

PTI’s Barrister Saif has said that a party delegation met JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman on the instructions of party founder Imran Khan to contact all political parties which were aggrieved by the irregularities in the conduct of the elections.

“PTI has announced that we will do a country-wide protest on Saturday and this process will continue because the JUI has also expressed doubts about the elections and their results and rejected them.

“We have a joint point on which we are united,” he said.

Saif said the parties would struggle, talk and continue their movement and protests together till the people received their rights.