Mehboob made the comments in flagship Naya Daur TV show Khabar Say Aagay. He said the PTI had managed to increase its vote share over the years. Mehboob said the party had garnered a little over 37% in the 2018 general elections. This rose by 13% to 50% in the Sunday by-elections.
The PILDAT president said Imran today had a genuine vote bank. He likened the trend with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's rise which initially too had commenced with 'patronage'. Mehboob said Imran would benefit little if he tasted success in ousting the government. This, Mehboob said, always benefitted others.
Journalist Raza Rumi said galloping inflation had left Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates wary. He said one had commented on how his paternity would be in question if he contested the next polls on a PML-N ticket one day before the by-elections at a huddle convened by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The results of the by-elections must have set-off alarm bells in the PML-N, analyst Muzamal Suharwardy said. He said the part had fared terribly in both, the recently-concluded by-elections and the July by-polls. However, Suharwardy said, the PML-N still had a vote bank. He cited how two PML-N candidates -- Abid Sher Ali and Shazra Mansab -- polled 80,000 votes each despite virtually no electioneering on part of the party as being representative of this.
Flagship Naya Daur TV show Khabar Say Aagay streams Monday to Saturday at 9pm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVtBnWHx-YI