Imran Khan’s Party Decides to Sit in Opposition in Pakistan National Assembly

Imran Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Friday decided to sit in the Opposition in the Centre as per the direction of the former Prime Minister and jailed party founder.

The decision of Imran Khan was announced by Barrister Ali Saif of the PTI. A day back, the PTI had named Umar Ayub Khan as its candidate for the post of the PM and Aslam Iqbal as chief minister for Punjab.

“We decided to sit in opposition despite the reality that if we received seats according to our votes and the results were not changed then maybe today we might have been in the Centre with 180 seats. We have the evidence that our candidates won,” Saif said.

The PTI claims that at least 85 seats won by it in Parliament were snatched in the “biggest voter fraud” in Pakistan’s history. Independent candidates – a majority backed by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf – won 93 of the 265 National Assembly seats. But former PM Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed a post-poll alliance on Tuesday to grab power in Pakistan.

The PML-N won 75 seats while the PPP came third with 54 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) has also agreed to support them with their 17 seats.

To form a government in Pakistan, a majority of 133 seats are needed out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.