PML-N ‘expelled MPAs’ vow not to vote for any party

Say party orders were not binding for them as they were forsaken by leadership

LAHORE:

Four MPAs elected on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ticket, later expelled by the party, said they would abstain from voting for either PML-N or PTI candidates.

Three of four MPAs who were elected on PML-N ticket but later got expelled by the party in October 2020 for meeting the then Punjab chief minister expressed these views while talking to The Express Tribune.

MPA Faisal Khan Niazi told The Express Tribune that all of them have decided to abstain from casting their vote in the CM elections.

He said since they have been expelled by the party so it was not binding on them to follow their orders. He said PML-N did try to reengage us, to win back our support, but we categorically said no.

When asked if PTI lawmakers were defecting from their party and joining the PML-N camp to secure their ticket, which they believed would brighten their chances of winning, he said he belongs to a political family and the decision to join which political party will be taken close to elections by his family.

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However, he said PML-N ticket was not as hot sell, as PMLN people might force people to believe. He said that the PTI narrative of foreign conspiracy has gained a lot of traction in rural areas, and the tide was against all parties that were now in power.

Another MPA AbuHafs Ghiasuddin said he and his family were approached by PML-N to support Hamza Shehbaz and sought forgiveness from them, upon refusal they were threatened. They were told that FIRs can be lodged against them, he said.

He said he told them that he has nothing to hide and has nothing to fear. Political parties’ leaders can lie through their teeth; sit with those they had termed traitors and dacoits, but for their leaders lower in ranks, there were strict rules.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2022.