Live: Elections 2024

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is holding a press conference in Islamabad following a two-day long party meeting.

At the outset of the media talk, Bilawal said the current situation of the country, the political situation, the threat to political stability and the concerns regarding Pakistan reaching a crisis point were discussed in the meeting.

“PPP’s principle decision is to take Pakistan out of the current crisis,” he said.

PTI spokesperson Raoof Hassan has said party founder Imran Khan had given the go ahead to the party for the formation of the government with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in the Centre and Punjab.

“And in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, for reserved seats, we will form a coalition with the Jamaat-i-Islami,” he said.

“Imran has a clear message that formation of a government is the right of who had won the elections,” he told a press conference in Islamabad. Hassan said “power wielders” must introspect their actions.

Aleem Khan, the sister of former premier Imran Khan, has said the PTI founder wants the votes “stolen from the PTI to be returned”.

“The entire world has acknowledged that rigging took place and it would be best that the PTI’s votes are returned, otherwise the people may take to the streets for their mandate,” Aleem said.

Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society (PESS) President retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum has said candidates who contested the Feb 8 general elections must accept the results.

“If someone got a result against them, then they must sit in the opposition and there is no harm in it,” he told a presser in Islamabad.

Without naming anyone, Qayyum said: “You had taken to the streets before, derailed the system and attacked the military establishment but the results of all such actions are known to everyone.”

He said “innocent people” must not be misguided. “Election results must be accepted and the Election Commission of Pakistan and courts are proper forums, which must be approached if anyone has complaints.”

He also urged stakeholders not to “defame big institutions like the Pakistan Army and the judiciary”.

Barrister Ali Zafar has said the PTI would hold its intra-party elections within a week or 10 days.

“You must remember that intra-party elections were ready and the process is underway […] today, Khan sahib told us to speed up the process,” he said in a media talk outside Adiala Jail.

In response to questions, Barrister Zafar stated the Election Commission of Pakistan will have to “accept the intra-party polls”.

Barrister Gohar Khan has said PTI founder Imran Khan wants the party to form its “own government” whether it is in the Centre, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Punjab.

“In KP, Ali Amin Gandapur has been nominated as the chief minister. In a day or two, we will also announce our candidates for the speaker and the deputy speaker,” he added.

Meanwhile, Barrister Ali Zafar said that keeping in view the “actual results of elections, the PTI is in a position to form a government today”.

Barrister Gohar Khan has given details of all the National Assembly seats allegedly won by the PTI in the February 8 elections. At a press conference, he said these details would also be provided in the form of a white paper.

• 3 seats in Islamabad
• 4 seats in Balochistan
• 115 seats in Punjab
• 16 seats in Sindh
• 42 seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

“This way, the PTI has won 180 seats in Pakistan and this is the public’s mandate. We will share the Form-45s in the form of a white paper,” Gohar said, adding that the mandate of the public should be respected.

“We request the judiciary and ECP take responsibility and announce a decision on this,” he added.

PTI’s Barrister Ali Zafar has said party founder Imran Khan wants the party to engage with all political parties apart from the PML-N, PPP and MQM-P.

In a press conference after meeting Imran at Adiala Jail, Zafar said: “Imran has told party leader to begin discussions on the formation of government, appointment of chief minister, prime minister and National Assembly speaker.”

“He has also told us about the parties with which the PTI will form alliances and the details will come forth soon before the nation,” he added.

PPP leader and former Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has called upon the Sindh-based Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) to accept its defeat in the Feb 8 polls, insisting that their candidates were not destined to win due to their “poor performance” in the past.

Speaking to journalists in Islamabad, Shah said the people of Sindh were still ardent followers of late PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He added that Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also deserved commendation for efficiently managing the party affairs.

PTI leader Asad Qaiser says he has filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court seeking permission to meet incarcerated party founder Imran Khan.

In a video statement on the social media platform X, Qaiser said he wanted to hold a discussion with Imran pertaining to the political situation in the country.

“At this point, Pakistan cannot afford further anarchy. The nation has chosen their leader and their mandate should be respected,” he said.

The PTI has said that respecting the public’s mandate is indispensable for the survival and strength of the state.

“By blatantly attacking the public mandate and forcibly sharing power among criminals, the gap between the state and the public will widen and weaken the state,” the party said in a statement on social media platform X.

The PTI claimed that the people, especially the young generation, had shown their trust in party founder Imran Khan in a “clear manner” and called for the immediate release of the former premier.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has disposed of around 45 petitions of national and provincial assembly candidates challenging the tabulation of Form 47 for their respective constituencies, directing them to approach the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The SHC ordered the ECP to decide on all the petitions till February 22.

During the hearing, the state counsel argued that the pleas were unmaintainable while the ECP’s law officer said that a complaint cell had been established to deal with complaints about the election results.

Barrister Salahuddin, one of the counsels for the petitioners, urged the court to order the ECP to refrain from notifying the final winning candidates till their pleas had been decided.

Advocate Jibran Nasir asserted that returning officers were mandated to compile the results in the presence of the candidates.

In a post on X, Nasir said, “We have no faith in ECP whose mala fide is most glaring in the Shoaib Shaheen case where ECP gave him stay on Sunday and issued notification of his opposing candidate Tariq Fazal Chaudhary as winner on the same day.”

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed his grief on the death of Abdul Aziz Junejo, who had won from K.N. Shah’s PS-80 in the February 8 general elections.

In a post on X, the PPP quoted Bilawal as calling Junejo a “senior politician and parliamentarian”.

“Abdul Aziz Junejo was a public figure, sympathetic to the poor and actively participated in social work,” the statement added.

According to Geo News, PTI founder Imran Khan has nominated the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Ali Amin Gandapur for the role of the province’s chief minister.

PTI founder Imran Khan has said that the party will not hold any talks with PML-N, PPP and MQM, according to a post by the party on X.

“I still stand by my words that Nawaz Sharif will become prime minister for the fourth time,” Shehbaz Sharif said.

At a press conference, he recalled the string of achievements during the elder Sharifs’ tenure. He further stated that during the government of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, he made utmost efforts to decrease corruption.

Meanwhile, in a response to questions regarding inducting “turncoats” into the PML-N, Shehbaz said PTI hurled abuses at his party during its election campaign. “Despite that, Nawaz Sharif said that PTI-backed independents should be given their constitutional right to form a government if they want to.

“But if people want to join the PML-N out of their own will, what is the problem in that?” he asked.

Senior PPP leader Khurshid Shah has advised PML-N party supremo Nawaz Sharif to not go for the prime minister’s slot. “Nawaz Sharif should not become a candidate for premiership,” Shah said in an interview with Dawn.com.

“There are many question marks on Nawaz Sharif’s election in Lahore and the general opinion is that he was handed the victory,” Shah said. He suggested Shehbaz Sharif or Ayaz Sadiq as potential candidates for the prime minister’s slot.

“As a political worker, I am of the opinion that we should not touch anyone’s mandate,” he said, adding that PPP would not poach any elected member from other parties.

He said that PML-N should not run after numbers instead they should stick to their “respect the vote” slogan.

Shehbaz Sharif says there are no two opinions on the fact that the PML-N had attained simple majority in Punjab.

“But despite this, Nawaz Sharif has decided to talk to other political parties and form a government with consensus,” he said in a press conference.

In response to a question, Shehbaz said talks were underway with other political parties for a coalition government. He added that a decision would only be announced after consensus.

English musician and Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has called for former prime minister Imran Khan’s release from “false imprisonment”.

“I am an English musician and a passionate supporter of fair play. What you are doing in Pakistan is not cricket,” he wrote, in a note addressed to “the military rulers of Pakistan and their masters in Washington”.

“Imran Khan must be immediately released from his false imprisonment so that he can lead his party the PTI in a new fair and transparent election so that Pakistan can have a properly elected democratic government that actually represents the will of the people of Pakistan. Not the interests of foreign and domestic oligarchs,” the Pink Floyd bassist continued.

Read more from Images here.

Shehbaz Sharif says the time has come to heal the nation’s wounds, highlighting that this could only be done when “everyone comes and works together”.

“We need to turn pain into happiness, we need to turn hatred into love, we need to turn differences into discussions, we will have to bury the bitterness and sit together to find the solution to all the problems.

“In the name of God, in the name of Pakistan, we should show the world that we have learned our lesson […] and make Pakistan a country that was envisioned by Iqbal and Quaid,” the PML-N president said.

Shehbaz Sharif has brushed off the allegations of poll rigging, highlighting that in several areas PML-N stalwarts lost and independents won.

“In KP, the majority is of independent candidates […] does it mean they won through rigging. And in Sindh and Balochistan, there was no sign of independents,” he said at a press conference.

“On behalf of my party, independents are free, if they want to make a government, go ahead. We will sit in the opposition and fulfil our role,” he said.

Shehbaz added that all the political parties in the Parliament were engaged, adding that he had a conversation with Sardar Khalid Magsi of Balochistan. “The country needs to move forward […] there are numerous challenges and time is less,” he pointed out.

“Now our fight is against inflation, poverty, terrorism and unemployment.”

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said that after the party lost in 2018, it did not abuse anyone or hold any sit-ins. “We went to Parliament with black armbands […] who doesn’t know that the election was stolen? We didn’t say we would set Parliament on fire or give the nation a message of civil disobedience.”

Shehbaz said that the-opposition had kept aside political differences for the sake of Pakistan. “When we talked about a charter of democracy, in my maiden speech [as premier], I was ridiculed,” he said.

He further said that Imran used to enter the Assembly from a “secret door” so he did not have to shake hands.

“We sacrificed politics to save the country. Otherwise, the PTI government had led the country to default,” he said.

Shehbaz Sharif has said that the next phase has begun after polls. Talking about independent candidates he said, “If they call themselves PTI-sponsored or non-PTI-sponsored — if they can form a government then they should. The president will not give them an invitation.”

Speaking to the media in Lahore, he said: “If they can show the majority [in the Assembly] then we will gladly sit in the opposition benches and play the constitutional role. If they cannot make a government, then obviously other political parties will make a decision with consensus and field a candidate. This is the constitutional way […] we need to move forward like this and finalise the upcoming phase.”

PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, noting alleged rigging in past polls, asked, “Which election is there where allegations of rigging were not made?”

Speaking to the media in Lahore, He appreciated the chief election commissioner on the Feb 8 polls.

He further said that on election night, on the basis of a mere 10-12 per cent of results, there was a declaration that independent were winning and parties were losing, which was “inappropriate”.

“On one hand there are allegations of rigging [but] then independents are winning and we are losing. This is contradictory,” he said.

“So please, elections have happened and it was proven that out of political parties, PML-N is the biggest party. If you count independents, then their number is obviously greater — but in political parties PML-N is number one,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif said that the February 8 polls were held despite concerns regarding weather and the security situation.

He also recognised the role played by law enforcement agencies in safeguarding the people on election day.

He noted that baseless allegations were also levelled against the Election Commission of Pakistan. He said that it was in front of the nation who staged sit-ins outside Parliament and held demonstrations.

Talking about the 2018 polls, he said that the results poured in after 66 hours. “For the first time in history, the results of cities were delayed while those of villages poured in.”

Mayor Karachi Murtaza Wahab has said that the metropolis will progress substantially in the next few years in accordance with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s vision for the city.

“Bilawal sahib says that when federal, provincial and local government work together then the system, in a cosmopolitan city like Karachi, will work better,” he said.

He said that the PPP has a simple majority and will form the government in Sindh according to Bilawal’s prediction.

While speaking to the media in Karachi, Wahab said that if the premiership comes to Bilawal, then his vision of federal, provincial and local governments working together will be realised.

Around 8.8 million of 21.9m voters registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa exercised their franchise in the Feb 8 general elections for provincial assembly seats, reveals the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Voter turnout was 39.2 per cent, according to the figures posted on the ECP’s website.

The ECP figures showed that 5.9m men and 2.9m women exercised their right to vote on Feb 8 with their turnouts totalling 64.2pc and 35pc respectively.

Copies of Form 47 posted on the ECP website revealed that PK-75 Peshawar-IV recorded the highest voter turnout of 64pc among the provincial assembly constituencies in KP.

A total of 141,012 voters were registered in the constituency and 90,244 of them participated in the electoral exercise.

Read more here.

Independent candidate Rana Fayyaz, who won from Sialkot’s PP-49 has joined the PML-N, the party says.

In a post on X, the PML-N said that Fayyaz met ex-premier and party president Shehbaz Sharif today.

MNA-elect Waseem Qadir, who recently switched to the PML-N, was also present during the meeting.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres is “continuing to monitor the situation following the general elections”, according to his spokesperson.

In a media briefing, the UN chief’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Guterres “calls for the resolving of all issues and disputes through the established legal frameworks and for human rights and the rule of law to be fully respected in the interest of the people of Pakistan”.

“The secretary general urges the authorities, political leaders to maintain a calm atmosphere and to reject and refrain from all forms of violence and avoid any actions that could increase or enflame tensions,” the spokesperson added.

Three people were killed and five received injuries when unidentified attackers opened fire on a vehicle in the rally of the PPP in Dera Ismail Khan’s Bhud area on Monday.

A police official said that unidentified persons attacked the vehicle with firearms in the limits of Hattala police station. The people on board the vehicle were going to congratulate PPP candidate Ahmed Karim Kundi for his victory on a provincial assembly seat in the general elections.

He said that three people were killed and five received injuries in the attack. Rescue 1122 team along with police reached the spot after receiving information about the attack and shifted the dead and injured to hospital.

Read more here.

PTI leader Latif Khosa lamented the alleged rigging in the February 8 general elections that “stole seats” from PTI.

“This pattern we’re seeing of discrepancies in Form 45 and 47 is a joke. Form 45 results should be announced,” he said, while speaking to the media in Islamabad.

“I credit Khawaja Saad Rafique for showing grace and accepting his defeat,” he said. “If Nawaz Sharif has lost to Yasmin Rashid, he should accept that.”

PTI-backed MNA-elect from Lodhran, Rana Faraz Noon, has allegedly refused to accept an invitation by the PPP to join the party.

Sources close to Rana Faraz say he was contacted by some members of the Gilani family from Multan, who visited the outhouse of the MNA-elect late on Sunday and offered him to join the party, also pledging to give him a ministry if the PPP formed the government in the centre.

During the visit, the sources say, some PPP stalwarts also talked to Noon on the telephone and tried to convince him to join the party.

Read more here.