PTI senior politician and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Wednesday that his own party defeated him in the PP-217 constituency election in the Punjab Assembly during the 2018 general elections. “It was my own party that colluded against me in the 2018 elections,” he remarked during a public gathering in Multan ahead of the forthcoming by-election.
Qureshi stated that he was speaking honestly and that he had told Imran Khan that if Shah Mahmood had been an MP from here, the situation in Punjab would not be as it is today. it made no difference to me that I became foreign minister, but it made a difference for you, Multan, and South Punjab,” he said. People had advised Qureshi not to run his son Zain Qureshi in the by-election because defeating the party’s vice chairman would be ‘insulting.’
According to a news report, he said, “I answered no, certain conflicts are not waged for triumph or defeat.” After the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) de-seated 20 PTI members on court orders for voting against the party line in the election of Hamza Shehbaz as chief minister in April, Punjab will hold by-elections on 20 provincial assembly seats next month. Qureshi had previously accused the Punjab government of breaking the election code of conduct in the province’s impending by-elections, casting doubt on the election officials’ competence. According to Qureshi, the ECP was constitutionally obligated to hold honest elections, but people’s trust in the polls supervisor was eroding.
This election will decide Hamza Shehbaz’s destiny, thus he will go to whatever length to keep his position as chief minister. The Punjab government is currently attempting to handle the poll, according to Qureshi. “I saw the Punjab government’s attitude. They will have an impact on the Election Commission’s legitimacy.
