Imran’s party to boycott bypolls

Jailed former PM Imran Khan’s party has decided to boycott the upcoming by-elections for national and provincial assemblies, in line with the opinion of its founder.

Several seats of the national and provincial assemblies became vacant last month after the conviction of leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for their involvement in the May 9, 2023 riots.

A day earlier, the party’s political committee had voted 12-9 to take part in these polls. Senior party leader Asad Qaiser confirmed that in Khan’s opinion, the party should not go into by-elections. “...the government will not let our candidates win… (and) if (we) take part in the elections, it will legitimise the government’s illegal action of de-seating our legislators,” he added.

Khan also accused Army Chief Asim Munir of being power-hungry and running the worst kind of dictatorship and that he should apologise for orchestrating the said riots.