PM Imran, PTI still ‘the most popular’ among masses: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP):Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Monday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Prime Minister Imran Khan were still ‘the most popular’ among the masses as the party’s vote bank was fully intact.

“If the results of the (first phase) of Local Government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other elections are to be compared, there is no difference in the PTI vote bank,” the minister said in a news statement issued here.

He said, more than one member of the PTI took part in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections as independent candidates in multiple areas. If votes of the PTI and independent candidates were combined, there was only the PTI’s vote bank, he added.

The minister said the party’s vote bank could only be assessed accurately, if all the members of PTI (from an area) contested the election as one. No party could compete with the PTI, he added.

The PTI had won 17 Tehsil level seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said, adding successful candidates in most of the areas were those who had support of the party.

He said there was involvement of upto three Members of National Assembly and Provincial Assembly in every Tehsil during the local body elections. As the unity among their ranks was a hard thing to prevail during the local body elections.

He said the vote bank could not be in unison unless they did not get unite.

Fawad said Prime Minister Imran Khan had fulfilled the promise of giving a strong local body system to the country. He empowered the people to choose their representatives for the local government through direct election, the minister added.

During the past tenures of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the chief ministers acted as dictators in the local government elections, he said, adding the situation in Sindh was before everyone.

The party was not perturbed by the results of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections as its results did not prove any decline in popularity of the PTI, he maintained.

The minister said the local body election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had validated that the local parties other than of PPP and PML-N had the vote bank in the province.

He said the local body elections were contested over local issues and without involvement of the party leadership.

The result of first phase would not have impact on the PTI during the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the next one in Punjab, he said, adding the PTI believed that the local government system was imperative for the national development.

Drawing comparison of PTI with other parties in different regions of Pakistan, he said the PTI had competition with different political party in every province as it was competing with one party (PML-N) in Punjab, other in Sindh (PPP) and in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, there was another party.

He said Pakistan could not afford leaders like Maryam Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Their standing before Prime Minister Imran Khan was akin to ‘political dwarfs’, he added.