Imran challenges Nawaz to face-off in NA-122 re-polls

PTI chief says the contest would prove whether the polls had been rigged in favour of PML-N or not.

A day after grabbing his ‘hat-trick’ against the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with the election tribunal ruling against them, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Thursday evening threw down the gauntlet to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, challenging him to an old fashioned election-duel.

On Wednesday, the election tribunal had ruled in favour of the PTI, ordering repolls in NA-154, completing a ‘hat-trick’ of tribunal verdicts in favour of the Imran-led party, following similar verdicts in NA-125 and NA-122, with the latter two seats belonging to Federal Minister for Railways Saad Rafique and National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, respectively.

On Thursday, the PML-N decided against challenging the tribunal verdicts, opting instead to contest the re-polls.

Read: PML-N decides to contest by-polls on vacant seats

Imran, capitalizing on the move, challenged the prime minister to quit his seat, and contest the repolls in NA-122, to prove whether the PML-N had rigged the elections.

I have challenged Nawaz Sharif to contest against me in NA 122. We will know whether Lahore belonged to PTI but was rigged in PMLN's favour

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 27, 2015

However, it was not clear whether Imran, who is currently part of the National Assembly after being elected from NA-56. Imran had contested the May 2013 elections from four seats: NA-1 Peshawar, NA-122 Lahore, NA-56 Rawalpindi and NA-71 Mianwali. He had won three of those seats - including NA-1, NA-56 and NA-71, but opted to retain only NA-56.

Read: NA-122 rigging allegations: Tribunal terms Ayaz Sadiq's election null and void

Earlier in the week, Imran had claimed that he was justified in demanding Nawaz’s resignation last year, after it emerged that a tribunal judge was allegedly being pressurised by the incumbent PML-N to rule in their favour.