PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz said on Thursday that they won the Senate election through unity. 

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad after a meeting of the PDM member parties on Thursday evening, Bilawal said PDM and democracy were future of the country. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s body language during his address to the nation on Thursday night showed he was a loser and he was going to lose the vote of confidence. He said that PDM and its allies have snatched some space from Imran Khan and his selectors, but it must not be taken as full victory. He said that PDM candidate Yusuf Raza Gilani’s victory in the Senate election should not be taken as an absolute victory. He said that democracy was a process and a continuous struggle was need to restore real democracy in Pakistan. 

The PPP chairman said the nation knows when lawmakers cast their votes according to the voice of conscience, the PDM wins and the puppet PTI loses the Senate election. He said Imran Khan accused his members of selling votes and now he is going to seek vote of confidence from them. He said that Imran Khan should identify those who sold their votes, expel them from his party and get FIR registered against them instead of seeking vote of confidence from them. He said Imran Khan called some people from his party as deserters but “I call them brave” because they cast their vote according to the voice of their conscience. He said the PDM would decide when to bring the no-trust move against Imran Khan. 

Speaking to the media, Maryam said Imran dragged the Election Commission of Pakistan into the Senate election controversy in his address to the nation, but he should not have done this. She said that Imran Khan pressurised the ECP officials he himself appointed, but now they have come out of his pressure. She said that Imran’s incompetence affected the reputation of his selectors and the national institutions they represented. She said that heads of institutions should not have met Imran Khan after the Senate vote; they should not stand behind Imran Khan. She said that heads of some institutions were seen meeting Imran Khan after his party candidate’s defeat in the Senate election, but they should not do so. 

The PML-N leader said her party forced the forces behind unknown phone calls to step back. She said that now PML-N people have learnt how to tackle those calling from unknown numbers. She said that PML-N people do take calls from unknown numbers, but they talk to them on topics of their own interest.