Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz claimed on Monday that the PTI did not boycott yesterday’s by-elections but rather participated in all 13 constituencies up for grabs.

By-elections were held on six National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly seats on Sunday. The PML-N fielded its candidates on all seats except a provincial one in Muzaffargarh, and secured victory on all 12 of them.

The PPP contested on three seats but could only win the Punjab Assembly seat from Muzaffargarh. The PTI failed to grab either of the Haripur or Lahore NA seats it campaigned for.

“This was not even a boycott of the elections. What they are describing as a boycott, I have not seen such hypocrisy during my entire life,” CM Maryam said while addressing a meeting of provincial ministers today.

“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’s] name.

“And when they lost, they said ‘we boycotted’,” the chief minister said.

The PML-N leader said the PTI employed a strategy where it would claim popular support “despite a boycott” if it won, but also attribute any loss to its boycott call. “This is a drama,” she quipped.

During her address, Maryam repeatedly criticised the PTI’s “narrative” of a boycott, contending that politicians never opt out of democratic processes even if they have slim chances of emerging victorious.

“[Lt] General Faiz Hameed went to jail, Umar Ata Bandial and Imran-daar judges went home, so they do not want to contest elections now,” she said, referring to the former intelligence chief and the ex-chief justice.

The Punjab CM slammed the PTI for indulging in “politics of narrative”, saying that narratives had a shelf-life, which had now ended.

The PML-N leader also recalled the July 2018 elections won by the PTI in the wake of the imprisonment of the top PML-N leadership, including her and her father Nawaz Sharif, who had been ousted as the prime minister the year prior.

“Even us in 2018, when Nawaz Sharif sahib and I were in jail, I was perhaps the first Pakistani woman they jailed and did many injustices to,” Maryam claimed.

“But we did not boycott the elections. We contested even in the worst circumstances,” she added, terming them the “most difficult elections” of the PML-N’s history.

“I was alone here; Maryam Nawaz vs the entire power of the state,” she said, adding that the now-banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was “also created during that election”.

“General Faiz’s entire power was with the PTI and Yasmin Rashid. It was the most difficult election in history [for us],” Maryam said.

Addressing the PTI, the Punjab CM said, “When you break laws, when you take up militancy, you have no right to call yourself a political party.”

“You conducted rigging, but were allowed to continue. You did manipulation and made people lose elections, but no one said anything. But the day you attacked your own country, your downfall started,” she said, referring to the May 9, 2023 riots.

Maryam went on to assert that the “extra votes in all constituencies” were from people who switched support from PTI to PML-N.

“The public accepted service, they stamped Nawaz’s ideology and buried the politics of lies, hypocrisy and conspiracy forever,” she added.