PTI announces nationwide protests against ‘sham by-elections’

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has declared the by-elections held in various parts of the country on Sunday as a sham and announced nationwide protest demonstrations on Friday.

Addressing a joint press conference in Islamabad along with party chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, PTI’s senior leader and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub said that the by-elections held in different parts of the country were not elections, but a sham was staged.

Barrister Gohar said that the Election Commission of Pakistan should tell the public why returning officers (ROs) from the judiciary were not appointed for the by-elections.

Read more: By-elections 2024: PML-N takes the lead

“It has been 24 hours since we informed the election commission, and yet no action has been taken; the Punjab government continues to benefit from this heinous crime,” he said.

He said that “our polling agents were thrown out of the polling stations,” he said.

Barrister Gohar stated that the vote is democracy, which is considered the pillar of the parliament, and the correct use of the vote yields real results. “Everyone saw what happened in the by-elections,” he said.

He mentioned that when he went to a polling station yesterday, the presiding officer reported 750 registered votes, but more than 900 votes were cast at that polling station.