LAHORE, Aug 22: PML-N acting president Javed Hashmi has alleged that his party MNA Rana Mehmudul Hasan and Rana Noorul Hasan of Multan are being pressurized to change their loyalties.

In a press statement here on Monday, he said various state institutions were trying to force a number of opposition workers into joining the ruling party.

According to him, an atmosphere of fear had been created with the firing on the offices of the Watan Nawaz groups’ candidates in Faisalabad.

Mr Hashmi said statements of various government functionaries amounted to confessions that the local polls had been rigged. He said utterances given by various ruling party leaders from Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur and Multan were like an evidence against fairness of the electoral process.

The PML-N leader said while the credibility of opposition leaders’ statements could be questioned, what the ruling party bigwigs had said about the local polls was a challenge to the Election Commission.

In the present era, he said, it was rigging, not the local government system, which had got roots.

CANDIDATES: Sahibzada Hameed Sultan and Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoob will be the ruling party’s candidates for Jhang district and tehsil nazims, respectively.