LAHORE: Special Assistant to Chief Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan says Prime Minister Imran Khan has proposed reballotting in 20 polling stations of Daska as a goodwill gesture while the PTI has achieved success in the result cards available with the PML-N.

She says the PML-N always preferred ‘selection’ instead of election and the Daska by-election has smashed all its hopes as the people of Daska have rejected its hereditary politics.

Firdous Ashiq Awan was talking to the media after addressing a ceremony held in connection with “World Thinking Day” by Pakistan Girl Guides Association Punjab at its office here on Tuesday.

“It is ironic that PML-N considers the election in Wazirabad fair because it has won there but cries for rigging in Daska where it has lost the election,” she said.

Ms Awan said the media was aware of the fact that initially PML-N had accepted results of 337 polling stations and Maryam Nawaz had also announced victory. She said that Maryam did not mention that she would not accept results in her tweet as she was confident about the victory.

According to form 45, the PTI achieved success on 16 polling stations while PML-N remained victorious in four polling stations, she said.

The PML-N started crying foul at 3:15am when the full result was announced and started propaganda to make the election controversial, she further said.

Responding to a question, the SACM maintained that PML-N’s demand for repolling was tantamount to building pressure on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as results were often delayed even for three days. “This is not a new thing.” The results were shared before 9pm in the WhatsApp group, she further said.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2021