Pak: PML-N will attempt to rig Punjab bypolls, says Imran Khan

Islamabad [Pakistan], July 16 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan exuded confidence in winning Punjab by-polls that are slated to take place on Sunday and urged supporters to guard polling stations as he claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will make an attempt to rig the elections.
Over the last few weeks, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz addressed various public gatherings in different parts of Punjab under the pretext of by-elections that are set to take place on July 17, Geo News reported.
Claiming that his party will win all the 20 constituencies, Imran Khan Friday addressed his last election jalsas in Faisalabad and Lahore to gain the support of his followers.
During the public gathering, the former prime minister said, "PML-N was preparing to rig the elections because the party knows that PTI will clean sweep all the constituencies."
"They will break all the records of rigging the elections," he said while urging his supporters to guard the polling stations on the day of the elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had unseated the 25 dissident members of the PTI who voted for Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz against their party lines when electing Punjab's chief minister.
The decision came during the announcement of the verdict in a case pertaining to the dissident members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs), leaving 20 seats of the Punjab Assembly vacant.
Khan said that his party will win against Hamza despite his party's efforts to rig the elections. "We will celebrate Hamza Shahbaz's loss," he added, as he took a sharp dig at the incumbent government saying the United States imposed these "thieves" upon us so that it could use and discard them like "tissue paper" as America does not want our betterment.
He further highlighted the efforts by the PTI government, claiming that his party did not increase the prices of commodities in the country despite International Monetary Fund (IMF's) pressure, while he blamed Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government for political instability in the South-Asian country.
On the other hand, Maryam addressed a public gathering in Lahore, saying that she was "proudly campaigning for her brother Hamza as the Chief Minister of Punjab."
"Lahore belongs to party supremo Nawaz Sharif and will always belong to him and if the PTI's incompetent government had remained in power for another year, it would have ruined the whole city," said Maryam.
She went on to say that those eyeing Lahore with bad intentions will lose on July 17. "This is not a war between PTI and PML-N, this is the war for Punjab and Lahore's development," added the PML-N vice president.
Addressing the masses about the oil prices, Maryam said that the prices will further decrease if they fall in the global market, reported Geo News.