Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Wants To Run Away From Senate Elections: PML-N

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 5 : At a time when the political landscape is tense in Pakistan, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Arbab Khizar Hayat, said on Thursday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) wants to run away from the senate elections now, according to ARY News. Hayat further said that it is a matter of 'few months' to oust the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed provincial government from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and added that his party, along with its allies, would form the government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 'soon'. "The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a guest for few months," the PML-N leader added. He claimed that more than 36 MPAs of the ruling party turned against the PTI.

"The PTI wants to run away from the Senate elections as its MPAs would not be voting for the party's candidates. Let the Senate elections take place in the province, the PTI will realise its actual position," Arbab Khizar Hayat said, according to ARY News. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Senate elections were previously postponed by the Pakistani Election Commission because opposition party members with reserved seats were unable to take the oath of office.

"The committee believes that the standards of integrity, equity, and impartiality of elections, as stipulated in Article 218(3) of the Constitution, cannot be met because elected officials have not been sworn in, which results in the disenfranchisement of eligible voters and a denial of equal opportunities to all voters," the ECP stated. On April 3, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) criticised the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) decision to postpone the Senate polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, calling it a continuation of the "mandate theft" plot.

In a statement, a PTI spokesperson called the postponement of Senate polls for not administering the oath to members on reserved seats in the provincial assembly "ridiculous," as the heads of state were also elected without members on reserved seats in national and provincial assemblies. According to the statement, the PTI accused the chief election commissioner of being the "central figure" in the "poll robbery" scheme. The statement further said that the electoral watchdog's decision was a continuation of the same scheme under which the mandate of people was stolen "under state patronage" after general elections held on February 8.

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