CM Maryam Claims PTI Contested, Not Boycotted the By-Elections Across All 13 Seats

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday rejected Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) assertions that it boycotted the recent by-elections, insisting the party had instead fielded candidates and campaigned in all 13 constituencies where polls were held a day earlier.

By-elections took place on six National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly seats on Sunday. The PML-N, which contested all seats except one provincial constituency in Muzaffargarh, secured victories on 12 of them. The PPP, which ran for three seats, managed to win only the Muzaffargarh provincial seat. PTI failed to secure either the Haripur or Lahore NA seats it had actively campaigned for.

Addressing provincial ministers in Lahore, CM Maryam said the PTI’s claim of a boycott was “hypocrisy,” arguing the party had openly participated in the polls. “PTI candidates contested in all constituencies. They contested on ‘qaidi No. 804’ (Imran) with photos of their leader. They set up polling camps, displayed pictures and campaigned while taking the PTI name,” she said. “And when they lost, they said ‘we boycotted’.”

Maryam claimed PTI attempted to frame the outcome in a way that suited either scenario. “If they won somewhere, they would say it happened despite a boycott; if they lost, they would blame the boycott. This is a drama,” she remarked.

The chief minister criticised what she described as the party’s reliance on “narratives” instead of political engagement, asserting that seasoned politicians do not withdraw from electoral processes, even when faced with unfavourable odds. She pointed to her own experience during the 2018 general elections when senior PML-N leadership, including Nawaz Sharif and herself, faced imprisonment. “We did not boycott the elections. We contested even in the worst circumstances,” she said, calling those polls the “most difficult” in the party’s history.

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Maryam also lashed out at the PTI for what she termed “militancy” and unlawful conduct, referencing the May 9, 2023 riots. “When you break laws, when you take up militancy, you have no right to call yourself a political party,” she said, alleging that the PTI’s political downfall began with the events of May 9.

Claiming that “extra votes” cast in the by-elections represented former PTI supporters shifting to the PML-N, she maintained that the public had “stamped Nawaz’s ideology” and rejected what she called the “politics of lies, hypocrisy and conspiracy.”

The by-election results further strengthened the PML-N’s position in Punjab, while raising questions about PTI’s electoral strategy and internal messaging following the losses.