ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan, the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a former prime minister, thanked party members and Punjab by-election voters on their success.
Imran Khan said on Twitter, “I want to congratulate our PTI workers [and] people of Punjab for defeating not just [PML-N] candidates but the whole state apparatus, [particularly] harassment by police and a highly biassed [Election Commission of Pakistan].”
I want to first thank our PTI workers & voters of Punjab for defeating not just PMLN candidates but the entire state machinery, esp harassment by police, & a totally biased ECP. Thank you to all our Allies, PMLQ, MWM & Sunni Ittehad Council. pic.twitter.com/TgFqQ7EDj0
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 17, 2022
The former premier also expressed gratitude to the allied parties that supported him in the Punjab by-elections, including the Sunni Ittehad Council, Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.
Imran Khan said that holding free and fair elections under the supervision of a “genuine” election body was the only option to go ahead from this point. Any alternative course “would only result in further political ambiguity and increased economic turmoil,” he said.
According to first unofficial figures, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is comfortably ahead in at least 16–17 seats in the Punjab by-elections.