LAHORE, Feb 17: Former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi on Sunday failed to address a hurriedly-called press conference, “belatedly realising that the deadline for campaigning is already over and doing so at this stage will be tantamount to violation of election code of conduct and can result in disqualification.”

After keeping the journalists waiting for over an hour during which he reportedly tried to seek permission for the press conference, the task was assigned to Senator Kamil Ali Agha who used the occasion to sling as much last-minute mud as he could on the PPP and the PML-N.

Pervaiz Elahi, however, did make a brief appearance to “thank the media” for cooperation during the campaign and also attended the press conference on a short notice.

Senator Kamil Agha, who started off by eulogising the “decency” with which the PML-Q had conducted its campaign, claimed that none of its leader had stooped as low as its rivals had. He claimed to have credible information that the “PML-N would boycott polls on Monday (the election day) and it would announce boycott at a press conference to be called at 11.30am.” Both the PPP and the PML-N had lost sense after smelling defeat, he said.—Staff Reporter