Agencies rigged Daska by-poll on PM Imran’s behest: Maryam

PML-N leader slams Imran Khan for 'stealing' the by-elections after being defeated from everywhere else

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that agencies working under Prime Minister Imran Khan were involved in the rigging in NA-75 Sialkot-IV by-polls.

"We have full information… they should reveal the names themselves, we are waiting for them… or else we’ll have to do it ourselves," she said while addressing a rally in Wazirabad.

She said that Imran Khan "robbed" the by-polls after being defeated from everywhere else across the country. "It was a referendum against them [PTI government]. You lost miserably in Balochistan, Sindh and Nowshera," she said.

Maryam said that a member of PM Imran’s cabinet used to say that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif was in London and had lost power but he "entered their stronghold and defeated them", referring to the ruling party’s defeat in Nowshera by-poll.

Read more: SC must not provide support to govt's sinking ship: Maryam

After the ‘exemplary defeat’ in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Maryam said the government resorted to using high-handed tactics and tried to "rob" the mandate in Punjab.

"People from Daska and Wazirabad not only took revenge of their insult but also exposed fake elections of 2018," she added.

The PML-N vice president also accused the administration of opening fire at a polling station to create chaos, saying that the people kept waiting outside the polling stations in NA-75 to vote for PML-N.

She accused the PTI workers of running away with polling bags which slowed down the voting process. "In 2018 elections, you had heard about 'theft of votes', but here [at NA-75 by-polls] the whole polling staff was taken hostage," she said while addressing the gathering.

The PML-N vice president said that staff of 20 polling stations had gone ‘missing’ but they suddenly appeared in the Returning Officer's office in the morning.

She said that when her party took the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), it admitted that 20 of their staff were indeed "stolen".

"Imran Khan is asking to conduct re-polling in 20 polling stations because he is caught red-handed. Do you consider Wazirabad and Daska people a fool?" she added.

Maryam said that Imran Khan used to say that the politics of PML-N was over but the people of Daska and Wazirabad have rubbished his claims. "They (Daska and Wazirabad) belong to Nawaz today and will belong to him in future as well," she added.

She said that despite levelling allegations against Nawaz, they could not stop people from voting for him. "They asked for finding evidence against Nawaz Sharif, they paid your tax money in the broadsheet case, and later they had to give Rs45,00,000 to Nawaz at his home."

She said that had there been any justice in Pakistan, corruption cases against him would have been termed inadmissible by courts.

Live From Wazirabad Maryam Nawaz Sharif(PMLN) https://t.co/PvqeyjwfOS

— PML(N) (@pmln_org) February 24, 2021