PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz taunted the government on Thursday, saying that those who were trying to break up the PML-N were themselves disintegrating. Addressing a general council meeting of the PML-N, Maryam Nawaz thanked the party’s lawmakers for voting for PPP’s Yousaf Raza Gilani — the PDM’s joint candidate — during the Senate elections.
Gilani had pulled off an upset victory, beating Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh from the Islamabad seat by securing 169 votes. Shaikh received 164 votes. “I pay tribute to all 83 parliamentarians who accepted Nawaz Sharif’s narrative,” she said. “Our parliamentarians observed discipline and voted for Yousaf Raza Gilani.
PTI MNAs voted against Party candidate Hafeez Sheikh cuz PMLN ticket offer worked .Maryam Nawaz.
This is Inducement and can be dangerous. Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan pic.twitter.com/os0mfJKj85
— MNA (@Engr_Naveed111) March 4, 2021
Referring to her father, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as a “trendsetter”, Maryam heaped praise on him, saying that whenever he decides to do something, the PML-N supremo does so.
“They say Nawaz Sharif’s narrative is too heavy for anyone to carry. The weight of Nawaz’s narrative was carried by the PML-N workers,” she said, adding that the slogan of “Vote Ko Izzat Do” was being accepted by people across the country.
Disturbing results
The Senate Elections results were quite disturbing for the PTI. According to the returning officer, who announced the results after counting ended in the National Assembly, six of the total 340 ballots cast in the National Assembly were rejected. Gillani obtained 169 votes, whereas Shaikh got 164. One vote was not cast. The MPs were required to vote for 37 vacant seats of the Senate with 11 senators already elected unopposed from Punjab due to withdrawals from opposing candidates.
Polling was held for 12 seats each of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 of Sindh and two of the federal capital. MPAs from the three provincial assemblies cast their vote for the candidates fielded from Balochistan, KP and Sindh, while MNAs voted for the representatives from the federal capital.
Read more: Vote of confidence: When will government summon National Assembly’s session?
“PTI has unanimously decided that Prime Minister Imran Khan will take a vote of confidence from the National Assembly,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said while addressing a press conference along with Federal Ministers Shafqat Mehmood, Asad Umar, Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhry, Syed Ali Haider Zaidi, Hammad Azhar and others.
He described the victory of Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani as a “negation of democracy” as well as the endorsement of PM Imran Khan’s apprehensions of corrupt practices in the Senate elections.
The foreign minister said the way voting was done on the capital’s general seat, strengthened the PTI’s narrative about the use of money in the Senate elections. “We were apprehensive that the elections will be bought and the buyers of conscience will buy the votes using the name of democracy.”
‘Imran knew he would be defeated from the very beginning’
The PML-N leader said that the prime minister knew, right from the very beginning, that he was headed for defeat in the Senate elections.
She claimed that because the premier knew he would be defeated in the polls, he had tried to introduce ordinances and had “dragged the Supreme Court” when it came to the Senate elections. “Where was your democracy sleeping, when you and your selectors rigged the Senate elections a few years ago when Bizenjo tried to become the Senate chairperson and despite Opposition parties have more numbers, lost it?” she asked.
Maryam taunted the prime minister, saying that how could he seek a vote of confidence from his own people after accusing them of selling out for money. “Where will you secure the vote of confidence of the masses, who defeated you in the recent by-elections,” she asked.
Maryam said that whenever the upcoming polls are held, the PML-N will sweep them. She criticised the prime minister, telling him that “pride comes before the fall”. “What did you think, that the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif are without God? Didn’t you think about karma?” she asked.
Maryam rejects accusations of lawmakers being bought in Senate elections
Responding to allegations by government ministers that the Senate elections were rigged, Maryam mocked the government by asking whether the recent by-elections were also rigged or not. “With my head bowed in humiliation, I say that money did not prevail [in Senate elections]. Rather, the PML-N’s ticket prevailed,” a jubilant Maryam Nawaz said.
Maryam said that the prime minister should not say that his lawmakers sold out, adding that everyone knew this was the first and last time PM Imran Khan had gotten elected to power. “You and your MNAs and MPAs know, you have no future and you have no party,” she said, referring to PM Imran Khan.