• Punjab CM Maryam questions ‘PTI boycott’, claims rival party contested all seats
• Credits PML-N’s focus on ‘performance over narrative’ for win
• Nawaz lauds Shehbaz, Maryam for victory in by-elections

LAHORE: Lambasting the opposition PTI, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said that there were no longer any intelligence chiefs or judges, who had helped the party win past elections.

“Without Gen Faiz or [PTI founder] Imran-friendly judges, the PTI’s so-called popularity is fully exposed,” she said while addressing a meeting of cabinet members and administrative secretaries here on Monday.

“A party goes for a boycott of an election when it is certain that it is going to lose. These by-elections were a referendum, and the people of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have given their verdict in favour of the PML-N.”

The Punjab CM criticised the former ISI chief and several ex-judges of the Supreme Court for allegedly aiding PTI founder Imran Khan in winning the 2018 general elections.

Retired Lt Gen Faiz Hameed is currently in military custody and facing court martial for charges including engaging in political activities as well as misusing his authority.

“We were told that political parties win by narratives, not by development. But nothing makes a better narrative than performance, and the by-poll results have proven it,” she said, adding that those who relied on narrative alone were easily defeated in the by-elections, referring to the PTI.

‘PTI contested all seats’

She maintained that PTI-backed candidates contested all seats in the by-elections using photos of prisoner number 804, a reference to Mr Khan. “Is this not hypocrisy?” she asked. She questioned why the PTI did not boycott the by-polls in KP. “It shows the PTI’s trust in the administration, but the people in KP also voted for the PML-N. The people of KP are tired of empty narratives.”

CM Maryam claimed that the federal and Punjab governments were functioning under the leadership of her father, the PML-N president.

‘Poor political strategy’

Interestingly, the PTI’s political committee had decided to “actively contest all by-elections”, aiming not to leave the political arena vacant for rivals.

However, Mr Khan vetoed the decision and announced a boycott, citing it was not favourable to field candidates for the seats vacated by disqualifying the PTI lawmakers in May 9 cases.

On his direction, the PTI contested two National Assembly seats, one in Lahore and the other in Haripur, but lost both. “Either we should have boycotted all the by-polls or contested all. Allowing a walkover to a single horse [PML-N] on 11 seats and contesting two was poor political strategy,” a PTI Punjab leader told Dawn.

Shehbaz and Maryam lauded

In a post on X, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif congratulated the party’s candidates and workers on their victory in the by-elections.

“The tireless efforts and selfless service of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz are steering the country back onto the right path. The people of Pakistan have rejected a politics of violence, chaos, and destruction, and have chosen the path of development, prosperity, and stability,” he wrote.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2025