Following the by-elections on Sunday, in which the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claimed victory in the majority of national and provincial seats, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), founded by Imran Khan, has accused the elections of being “rigged” and released a schedule of nationwide protests for this Friday, April 26.
At a news conference on Monday, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan and other leaders, including Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza, referred to the 21 national and provincial parliament by-election process as a whole as “fraudulent.”
Additionally, he claimed that one of the strategies for “rigging” the election was the suspension of cellphone and internet services. Khan further asserted that the PML-N candidate in the by-elections received more votes than Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demonstrating unadulterated “manipulation” of poll results.
