Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) claimed on Monday that it has the support of a sufficient number of lawmakers to form governments at the Centre and Punjab. Talking to journalists, PTI Central Information Secretary Fawad Chaudhry claimed that the party has secured the support of 168 out of the nearly 340 returned lawmakers of the National Assembly (after counting the allocation of reserved seats). The announcement from PTI leader came after the Chaudhry Brothers of Gujrat - Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Pervaiz Elahi - called on PTI Chairman Imran Khan at his Banigala residence, and assured his party's support to him.
The Chaudhries vowed their party's full support both at the Centre and in the province of Punjab, as they have already said 'no' to PML-N to support the party in Punjab, arguing that they are morally bound to support the PTI as both the parties had done seat adjustment ahead of elections. The PTI information secretary said that in a 342-member house, around 10 seats would be vacated by candidates successful from more than one constituency while on two seats election had been postponed.
PTI would have to forgo up to 10 National Assembly seats prior to taking oath - those who won multiple seats (Imran Khan's 4, Major Tahir Sadiq's (retd) 1, Ghulam Sarwar Khan's 1) as well as those who would opt to retain their provincial assembly seat opposed to their National Assembly seats (Pervez Khattak, Asad Qaiser and Fawad Chaudhry). Moreover, PTI's ally PML-Q senior leader Chaudhry Pervez Elahi will also vacate one National Assembly seat.
Fawad Chaudhry said the numbers are to be secured with the help of independents (8 seats), MQM-Pakistan (6 seats), PML-Q (3 seats), Balochistan Awami Party (4 seats) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (2 seats).
The PML-Q has declared its support after settling on a "formula" with PTI, under which it will be given ministries at the Center and the Punjab. Talks with MQM-Pakistan are still ongoing, the Chaudhry said. Jahangir Tareen is headed to Karachi to negotiate terms, he added.
The PTI has also claimed it has the numbers to form the Punjab government, and that the chief minister will be from the PTI.
For a simple majority, one needs the support of at least 149 directly elected MPAs out of 297 general members to form government in the largest province of the country in terms of population.
The breakdown of the party's lead in Punjab is not clear as yet, but the party claims the support of 180 lawmakers, including reserved seats.
Earlier, in a meeting with PTI Chairman Imran Khan, MPAs-elect Saeed Akbar Niwani from PP-90 Bhakkar, Ameer Muhammad Khan from PP-89 Bhakkar and Fida Wattoo from Bahawalnagar had announced that they would lend their support to the PTI, a press release by the party's Central Media Department said.
Abdul Hai Dasti from PP-270 Muzaffargarh, who had announced his support to PTI on Sunday last, also met Imran Khan.
After the July 25 vote, the PML-N emerged as the single-largest party in the Punjab Assembly with 129 seats, while the PTI has a tally of 123. The PML-Q has eight MPAs after the joining of an independent member, while the PPP has six. There are 28 independents in all.
The PML-N claims support of nine independent candidates, but has not made their names public. Its efforts to woo the PPP and PML-Q are proving futile. It had assigned Sardar Ayaz Sadiq the task of persuading the PML-Q leadership to support PML-N in the race for the chief minister's office.
The PTI leadership claims it is closing in on its goal of 149 seats in the Punjab Assembly. It has so far mustered the support of 13 independents, taking its tally to 136 - seven more than the PML-N's. Four independents joined the party on Saturday and six others on Sunday.
Expecting to rope in 10 more independents in the next two days and with the support of PML-Q's eight seats, the PTI leaders had been tweeting "Game over for PML-N."
Meanwhile, the PTI also managed to garner the support of two independent Members of National Assembly-elect. MNAs-elect Sanaullah Mastikhel from Bhakkar and Ghaffar Wattoo from Bahawalnagar announced joining the party after calling on Imran Khan. PTI's senior leader Jahangir Khan Tareen was present at the meeting.
According to the press release, the PTI chairman welcomed the MNAs-elect and MPAs-elect into the party.
As per figures provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the PTI has emerged as the largest political party in the country, winning 115 of the 270 National Assembly seats on which the elections were held.
The PTI leadership has now decided to reach out to other smaller groups and independents since the party has already declared that it will not join hands with the PPP and the PML-N. There are 13 independents who have won NA seats, and PTI claims to have the support of at least three of them. Meanwhile, Ambassador of China to Pakistan met Imran Khan at Banigala, and congratulated him on behalf of the Communist Party of China on winning the elections.