'All parties should be allowed to contest 2024 general elections in Pak'

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Rana Sanaullah on Saturday said “all political parties” should be allowed to contest the 2024 general elections in the country, Geo News reported. Geo News is a Pakistani news channel.

The PML-N leader, in his interaction with journalists in Lahore, said, “All political parties will partake in the electoral process. People will decide who they want in power.”

According to Geo News, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have repeatedly been complaining that they were being denied a level playing field in the run-up to elections and attempts are being made to pave the way for the PML-N’s return to power ahead of general elections scheduled to be held on February 8, 2024.

The PTI earlier accused the Pakistan caretaker government of denying a level playing field. With the election drawing closer, the PTI chairman remains behind bars in Adiala Jail and the party’s leadership claims that they are not allowed to run for office.

On the other hand, the PPP, a former ally of PML-N in the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led coalition government, has also blamed Sharif’s party for denying a level playing field.

Sanaullah hit back at the PPP and asked if lodging false cases against PML-N’s leadership was a “level playing field”.

Speaking on the occasion, the PML-N leader said: “We are in the winning position. We are regaining our position. It is not out of the blue.”

“You are displeased as it is not happening now, whatever happened to us in the 2018 elections,” he added.

The PPP and PTI have been raising concerns over “preferential treatment” being given to the PML-N ahead of the upcoming elections, as per Geo News.

Sanaullah claimed that his party would win around 120 to 125 seats out of a total of 141 in Punjab during the 2024 elections. He further said that PML-N will form the next government in the Centre with a simple majority.