PTI’s Haleem Adil says Form 45 proof of party's success in Feb 8 elections

PTI Sindh President Haleem Adil Sheikh said on Monday that the people voted for the PTI, and the party-backed candidates were the real winners of the February 8 elections as per Form-45s.

Addressing a large crowd at the Karachi Press Club, Sheikh flanked by Khurram Sher Zaman and other PTI leaders, said "the voters of Karachi elected us!" He added that "our Form-45s were an undeniable proof of it" as he blamed the returning officers (ROs) for changing them illegally.

Referring to the Supreme Court's order that upheld the ECP's decision to strip the party of its electoral symbol, the PTI leader said that our symbol 'the cricket bat' was snatched from us. "The party's candidates were then allotted strange symbols, and cellular and internet services were also shut down on the polling day, but even then the people came out in huge numbers and voted for the PTI," he added.

“The nation gave its verdict in the PTI's favour,” said Haleem Adil.

The PTI leader claimed that the party won 183 seats from across the country, including 20 from Karachi and two from Hyderabad, with a complete record of Form-45s.

Similarly, he added, “We won 38 Sindh Assembly seats. We will approach the courts and take back our snatched mandate.”

“We knocked on the high court's doors, and they sent our petitions to the ECP, which later rejected our pleas and referred them to the tribunals. Our mandate was shamelessly stolen. The ECP failed to uphold the law and Constitution. Maybe not today, but tomorrow the Captain - party's founding chairman and former premier Imran Khan - will return,” he believed.

Read PTI-backed MPs swell SIC ranks

The PTI leader, who was recently released from jail after months of incarceration, complained of being imprisoned "in a death cell". “The current poll rigging is the worst ever in the last 75 years of the country,” the political leader decried.

Haleem announced starting a drive soon in Karachi to thank the party's voters and predicted the new government to hardly last five months. “The prime minister's chair is a hot seat, and it would burn whoever sits on it,” he said.

Haleem concluded by thanking the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) for supporting the PTI and allowing the party's successful candidates to join its ranks to be able to function as a party in parliament.

“We want progress and prosperity for the country,” he said, adding that, “We have always welcomed the IMF, and the lending firm can play a major role in rectifying the election process.”

PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman also thanked the media for reporting the party's stance even in the absence of the party's leaders. He said the PTI got Karachi's mandate in 2018, and also in 2024 as he urged the people of the city to boycott the "mandate thieves".

Taking a jibe at Bilawal Bhutto, Zaman said that the PPP's chairman only shows Form-45s of his Larkana seat. He said the PTI will approach the courts to seek justice once its intra-party elections are held on March 3.

He said, “We have confidence in our courts,” and warned of staging a hunger strike from the press clubs to the door of the chief justice of Pakistan.