Former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have claimed victory in the recently concluded Pakistan elections. After the official announcement of the election results were delayed and marred by allegations of rigging, Sharif’s PLM (N) winning 69 seats emerged as the single largest party.

While the imprisoned Imran Khan’s PTI party leaders who contested the elections independently after they were barred from the polls, won the most number of the seats. According to reports, the PTI party affiliates managed to win 98 seats.

Addressing a crowd of supporters gathered outside his residence at Lahore, Sharif said, “Pakistan Muslim League is the single-largest party in the country today after the elections and it is our duty to bring this country out of the whirlpool”

Failing short of the majority mark of 133, Sharif announced that his party will hold discussions with other groups to form a coalition. But as per Dawn, Pakistan People's Party chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday said that his party has not had any official conversation with Nawaz Sharif's PML-N and Imran Khan's PTI on the forming of a coalition government. Latest reports indicate that Bhilawal Bhutto’s PPP got 51 seats and the rest were won by other independents and small groups.

On the other hand, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif as well as his daughter Maryam Nawaz's victory in the Pakistan general elections was challenged by PTI-backed independent candidates in the Lahore High Court on Saturday, as per news agency PTI. 

According to PTI, Pakistan's army chief Gen Asim Munir on Saturday urged the political leadership to form a "unified government of all democratic forces", while backing former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's appeal to his rivals to help form a coalition government.

Image source: The Business Standard