ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has claimed to have mustered the support of 176 members of the National Assembly (MNAs)–four more than the mandatory 172 MPs or 51pc.
However, at least two of these seats do not apparently exist, according to the calculations done by The News and record of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
PTI Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry said at a presser that his party would be able to garner the support of 180 MNAs at the end of the day. It seems he has also put four votes of the opposition parties in the PTI’s basket. In its tally, the PTI counts four Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) seats, which, in fact, are three. They were won by Hussain Elahi from Gujrat and Tariq Bashir Cheema from Bahawalpur plus one special woman seat. As announced, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi will vacate both the National Assembly seats from Gujrat and Chakwal.
Another seat that the PTI has included in its numbers was claimed to have been won by Tehreek-e-Insaniat (TI), which is not the case because, according to the (ECP) record, this party did not get any seat. Its website shows that the TI got a total of 98 votes in the elections across Pakistan, which is obviously insufficient to secure any seat. These votes were secured by its lone candidate, Muhammad Tufail from NA-64 Chakwal.
In an exchange of messages on the WhatsApp with this correspondent, Fawad Chaudhry gave the breakup of his party’s numbers. His facts showed that he himself is not going to Punjab to vie for the office of the chief minister because his national seat has been included in the PTI’s tally. He had won both the national and provincial seats from Jhelum.
Same will be the case with Pervez Khattak as he will also vacate his Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seat and will be part of the National Assembly. This means he is not going to be the KP chief minister.
Fawad Chaudhry said that the PTI has 115 MNAs (his latest claim put this figure at 116) plus nine independents (who have joined it) apart from 27 women seats and five minority seats to be elected. He said four independents will also vote for the PTI while maintaining their status and without joining it.
The PTI will vacate six seats–four by Imran Khan and one each by Maj (R) Tahir Sadiq and Ghulam Sarwar Khan–that they had won in addition to their one seat each. Fawad Chaudhry excluded these six seats from its total tally.
He included seven Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) seats, five Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) seats; three Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) seats; two Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) seats, and one seat each of Awami Muslim League seats, Jamhoori Watan Party, and Tehreek-e-Insaniat
The figure 176 is the highest ever given by the PTI after the July 25 elections. From Balochistan, the BAP won four seats; the BNP-M three seats, PTI two seats; Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) five seats; JWP one seat and one independent returned.
They included NA-257: Abdul Wasay, MMA; NA-258: Muhammad Israr Tareen, BAP; NA-259: Nawabzada Shahzain Bugtti, JWP; NA-260: Khalid Hussain Magsi, BAP; NA-261: Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, PTI, NA-262: Kamal Uddin, MMA; NA-263: Salahuddin, MMA, NA-264, Asmatullah, MMA: NA-265: Qasim Khan Soori, PTI; NA-266: Agha Hassan Baloch, BNP-M; NA-267: Syed Mehmood Shah, MMA; NA-268: Muhammad Hashim, BNP-M; NA-269: Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, BNP-M; NA-270: Ehsanullah Reki, BAP; NA-271: Zubaida Jalal, BAP; and NA-272: Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, independent.
