Senate to NA-249, Asif Ali Zardari is Reigning Over Politics
Asif Ali Zardari shook hands with Balochistan Awami Party which is part of the ruling coalition, and made Yousaf Raza Gillani elected as opposition leader of the upper house
From Senate Election to NA-249 by-poll, Asif Ali Zardari is reigning over national politics. Zardari’s cunning moves began with the Senate election which the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) had decided to fight together.
PPP convinced other major parties in the coalition on the nomination of Yousaf Raza Gillani on crucial Islamabad seat in the Senate election.
Gillani contested against ex-Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh and won, even though the government coalition had more votes in the upper house than the collective vote bank of PDM.
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Asif Ali Zardari took credit for the surprising victory which he believed had sent tremors in the ranks of the government.
After achieving this, PPP started distancing itself with the opposition coalition and resisted PML-N’s candidate as the joint nomination for the opposition leader in the Senate.
PDM had decided that the PPP candidate’s nomination on Islamabad Senate seat would make PML-N eligible for the opposition leader in the upper house.
However, Zardari had other plans and he shook hands with Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which is part of the ruling coalition, and got Yousaf Raza Gillani elected as opposition leader in the upper house.
Then, PPP surprised its friends and foes in the NA-249 by-poll as its candidate Abdul Qadir Mandokhel won the seat beating PML-N’s Miftah Ismail.
After the announcement of the results, a verbal sword-play started between PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, who had called each other siblings couple of months ago.
Like other defeated parties, Maryam Nawaz rejected the by-poll results and made claims of rigging.
Election stolen from PMLN by only a few hundred votes. ECP must withhold the results of one of the most disputed & controversial elections. Even if it doesn’t, this victory will be temporary and will Insha’Allah come back to PMLN soon.
ووٹ کو عزت مل رہی ہے اور مل کر رہے گی— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) April 29, 2021
Later in a fiery presser, Bilawal said that they have ‘hunted’ many with one arrow.
He criticized Maryam Nawaz on rigging claims and advised that PML-N should learn to accept the defeat.
“Instead of Imran Khan and establishment, the PML-N is fond of competing with PPP”, he added.
Further, Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah wrote in his tweet that PML-N had also cried foul in the NA-75 Daska by-poll like NA-249.
نون لیگ نے ڈسکہ میں بھی یہ ہی کیا تھا اور یہاں بھی کہ جس جس پولنگ اسٹیشن سے ہاررہے ہو وہاں سے اُن کا پولنگ ایجنٹ بغیر نتیجہ لیے غائب ہوجاۓ اور سارا الزام الیکشن کمیشن پر ڈال دے۔ شاید یہ بھول گۓ اس دفعہ ان کا مقابلہ حقیقی جمہوری پارٹی سے ہے ۔ #NA249BhuttoKa
— Syed Nasir Hussain Shah (@SyedNasirHShah) April 29, 2021
PML-N had decried of rigging only at the polling stations where it lost. Its polling agent had fled without taking the results and then the election commission was blamed. PML-N forgot it was competing with a real democratic party this time”, he said in his tweet responding to rigging claims.
