Islamabad: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan stunned everyone with his party re-claiming six out of eight seats of the National Assembly (NA) in by-elections.
The competition was very much seen as a direct political battle between Khan and the coalition government.
Khan lost only one contest in Karachi, while his party member Meher Bano Qureshi lost her by-polls to Ali Musa Gillani of Pakistan People Party in Multan. Imran’s loss in Karachi was also claimed by Pakistan People Party’s Hakeem Baloch.
However, Khan’s big wins in six National Assembly seats have certainly rang alarm bells in the ranks of the coalition government, especially in the current sitting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Khan’s PTI claimed victory from Mardan, Charsadda and Peshawar in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) province, Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib in Punjab province and Korangi district of Karachi in the Sindh province.
His party also emerged victorious in at least two out of three Punjab provincial assembly by-polls while only one was claimed by the ruling party PML-N.
Khan’s narrative and efforts to spread his campaign across Pakistan has certainly yielded results as he cements the claims of him being the country’s most popular leader at present.
The biggest winner of the by-polls has certainly been Khan while the biggest loser has been the ruling party PML-N.
Many said that Khan was a lone fighter against a coalition of at least 13 political parties, who now stand red-faced and embarrassed after losing from almost all constituencies from where Khan stood as a candidate.
The win for Khan is more symbolic in nature and will not necessarily reflect on the outcome in terms of progress and development in respective won seats.
The PTI has maintained that Khan will not even be taking any oath of Member National Assembly (MNA) and will not be going to the parliament as an MNA also.
The win certainly holds a massive moral booster and affirmation of the claim that the current representation of coalition government in the parliament, does not represent the Pakistani nation as a whole.
Khan has repeatedly demanded the announcement of early elections to let the people of the country decide on who should lead them as premier. However, the current coalition government, which took power after ousting Khan from office through a no-confidence vote, has refused to meet Khan’s demand.
Analysts believe that Khan’s towering popularity among the masses, his narrative building and the overall campaign against the government, “has pushed the establishment and the coalition government’s parties on the back foot as they seem to have no rebuttal to Khan’s roaring and glaring political glitters”.
(IANS)
