Politics of money and bullying is coming to an end, says Shibli Faraz

• Shibli Faraz, Fawad Chaudhry, Firdous Awan, and Usman Dar visit Daska to condole deceased PTI worker's family
• Faraz says politics of money and bullying have ended despite PDM coming together and PM Imran Khan alone is enough to confront them
  
• Awan says PML-N has "always patronised drug dealers and occupation mafia"

DASKA: Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz on Sunday said that the politics of money and bullying is coming to an end, and despite all of the Opposition parties coming together [under the Pakistan Democratic Movement banner], Prime Minister Imran Khan alone is enough, and he is ready and determined to confront them.

He was speaking during his visit to Daska, along with other PTI leaders, to extend condolences to the family of the PTI worker who was killed after chaos erupted at the NA-75 constituency on Friday, February 19.

Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Punjab CM's aide Firdous Ashiq Awan, and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar were among those who offered condolences.

Addressing a press conference after visiting the family of the deceased worker, Shibli Faraz said that the "PML-N has been pursuing a policy of bullying and murder."

"In the past, women and children were shot at in Model Town, Lahore, and the main character of the tragedy was Rana Sanaullah, who also harassed people in the by-elections," Faraz said.

"Those who won in 2018's general elections by a margin of 40,000 votes have lost in these by-elections," he added.

Taking a jibe at PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, who also visited Daska earlier on Sunday, Firdous Ashiq Awan said that the "fake princess" called the by-elections "a war" and called the killer on the stage to hurt the sentiments of the deceased worker's family.

Awan went on to say that the PML-N has "always patronised drug dealers and occupation mafia."

On the other hand, Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that he wishes to see Maryam Nawaz speaking the truth at least once, adding that she always lies about having no property in London or even in Pakistan.

He said that the PTI will abide by the orders of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), adding that the Punjab government has been "completely neutral in the elections".

"Our candidate Ali Asjad Malhi has clearly won from NA-75 and once the official results are announced, we will be here to celebrate his victory," Chaudhry said. "We want the voting to be electronically conducted so that the vote can be traced [and not rigged]."

He said that the ministry of technology has developed a system for electronic voting which would be transferred to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) soon.

"We lost elections in Karachi and Nowshera but have not raised any allegation of rigging and accepted the results," he said. "This is the real difference between a democratic party and a non-democratic party which was fostered in the lap of a dictator."

ECP suspends NA-75 results based on rigging suspicion

Based on unofficial, preliminary results of the by-polls, the PTI on Saturday had declared its victory in the NA-75 by-polls despite the ECP suspecting the results to be "falsified".

The ECP issued an explanatory statement regarding the delay and suspension of the by-election results for the NA-75 Daska constituency.

The results of the NA-75 by-poll were withheld on the PML-N’s request amid a controversy surrounding 23 presiding officers who had allegedly gone missing' late in the night.

According to police officials, the 23 polling officials had gotten stuck in far-flung areas of the constituency due to fog. In a late-night development, police had retrieved the officers and brought them to the office of the district returning officer, where leaders of PML-N and PTI were also present.

However, the ECP statement noted that several attempts were made to contact the presiding officers, but no response was received from them.

The ECP said the chief election commissioner tried contacting the Punjab IG and the relevant commissioner and deputy commissioner on receiving information from the district returning officer (DRO) and returning officer (RO) about the presiding officers who had 'gone missing'.

The election commissioner, however, received no response.

PML-N demands re-election following ECP's 'charge sheet against govt'

The PML-N, on the other hand, has demanded a re-election in NA-75 Sialkot-IV, following what party vice-president Maryam Nawaz termed was "irrefutable evidence" and the Election Commission of Pakistan's "charge sheet against the government".

Maryam, in a press conference to "expose" the "evidence" gathered by PML-N, thanked the party workers and the people of Daska and Nowshera who "guarded their votes" and "caught the thieves" who had allegedly stolen votes.

She said they wrung free the votes from "a crocodile's grip".

Maryam also extended condolences to the families of the two people who died a day earlier during violence amid the by-polls.

Read more: NA-75 by-poll: PML-N demands re-election following ECP's 'charge sheet against govt'