Despite rejecting the election results, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to sit on the opposition benches in the Centre, Punjab and other provincial assemblies.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Despite rejecting the election results, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to sit on the opposition benches in the Centre, Punjab and other provincial assemblies.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the PML-N central executive committee in Lahore on Thursday, headed by the party President Shahbaz Sharif. The meeting decided that the PML-N's elected members will take oath while wearing black armbands.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, Ahsan Iqbal, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Hamza Shahbaz and other senior leaders attended the meeting.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi suggested during the meeting that the PML-N members shouldn’t take oath, but the executive committee did not agree to this proposal. Some members also proposed that the PML-N should go all-out for forming the government in Punjab, but eventually it was decided that the party will play the role of an effective opposition in the Centre, while the formation of the government in the Punjab will not be a priority.

Shahbaz Sharif maintained that the July 25 polls were massively rigged and his party would fully protest against it in the National Assembly. He said his party would provide thethe best thing to resign or boycott the Parliament.

Meanwhile, the PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said while addressing a press conference after the meeting that her party would participate in the all parties conference in Islamabad today (Friday) and announce the future course of action through a united political front.

“Every PML-N leader and member, regardless of the loss or victory, rejects the election results unanimously and there are no two opinions about it,” Marriyum stressed. “The PML-N is no PTI, it is the party that brought peace to a country devastated by terrorism, we would not add to the worries of the people by adopting any measure like the PTI,” she said.

Marriyum said the people of Pakistan were robbed off their mandate on the election day through multiple measures. Marriyum said there was a consistent intentional slow polling process, but the post-poll rigging was even worse.

“Our poling agents were forced out of the counting process. What was being done behind those closed doors and why was it being done, the ECP will need to answer these questions,” she said. Marriyum, who met Nawaz Sharif earlier in the day, said Nawaz was of the view that the election results were not representing the ground realities.

Responding to a question, she said the pattern of rigging against the largest political party of the country was clear for the past 18 months right from the day their prime minister was disqualified and later imprisoned through a controversial decision. She said their mandate in Senate was stolen, their Senate candidates were deprived of the party symbols, the electables were forced to fortify their opponents, the polling stations in their voter strength areas were subjected to worst delays, their voters were discouraged and the results were manipulated after balloting.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman rejected the election results and announced to contact political parties to nullify the polls.

Speaking at a press conference, Fazlur Rehman said that the polls don’t reflect real mass mandate.

“It appears that the returning officers, presiding officers and DROs had no powers. The results were not issued and now are being provided steadily,” he said. He also went on to claim that the polling boxes were in the Army's possession after the polling process ended.

"We announce to continue our struggle for the people's mandate," he said.

The MMA leader said a joint course of action will be decided in the all parties conference scheduled today (Friday). “It's not easy to impose a mandate,” he said while taking a jibe at the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan. “We will contact parties to nullify the polls,” he added.