By Abdullah Ahmad
LAHORE (MNN); Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on Monday that the PTI did not actually boycott Sunday’s by-elections, asserting that the party fielded candidates in all 13 constituencies.
The by-elections were held on six National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly seats. The PML-N contested every seat except one provincial constituency in Muzaffargarh and secured victory on 12 of them. The PPP contested three seats, winning only the Muzaffargarh PA seat, while the PTI failed to win either Haripur or Lahore National Assembly seats.
Speaking during a meeting of provincial ministers, Maryam said: “This wasn’t a boycott. What they are calling a boycott is the biggest hypocrisy I’ve seen in my life. PTI candidates contested in every constituency. They used photos of ‘Qaidi No. 804’ (Imran Khan), set up polling camps, displayed posters and campaigned in the party’s name. And when they lost, they said they had boycotted.”
She accused PTI of adopting a strategy where they would claim public support if they won despite a “boycott”, but blame any defeat on the boycott call. “This is a drama,” she remarked.
Criticising PTI’s narrative, she said politicians do not walk away from democratic processes even if their chances are slim. Referring to former intelligence chief Faiz Hameed, ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial and others, she said, “They do not want to contest elections now.”
Maryam also reminded the audience of the 2018 elections, which PTI won when senior PML-N leaders, including her and former PM Nawaz Sharif, were in jail. “Even then, we did not boycott. We contested under the toughest circumstances. It was the most difficult election in our party’s history,” she said.
She criticised PTI for “politics based on narratives”, saying such narratives have an expiry date.
Targeting the party over the May 9, 2023 incidents, she said: “When you take the path of militancy, you lose the right to call yourself a political party. Your downfall began the day you attacked your own country.”
Maryam claimed that the additional votes in these by-elections were from people shifting their allegiance from PTI to PML-N. “People endorsed service delivery, supported Nawaz Sharif’s ideology, and buried the politics of lies and conspiracy,” she added.
