The announcement was made yesterday (Wednesday), and came days after the Punjab by-elections, and according to PTI MNA Aftab Siddiqui, who confirmed the development, the ongoing political chaos in Punjab is being cited as the reason for the cancellation of Khan's trip to Karachi.
A day after this announcement, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) today (Thursday) decided to postpone the Local Government (LG) elections in Sindh, which are now to be held on August 28. The decision was taken due to the ongoing flooding and rainfall.
Imran Khan was scheduled to visit Karachi and Hyderabad on July 21 and 22, however, after the cancellation of his trip it was decided that he would address rallies in the cities via a video-link on the 22nd, two days before the Sindh LG elections that were supposed to take place on July 24.
However, now the elections have been moved to August.
A PTI spokesperson defended the chairperson's decision to cancel his trip to Karachi, saying that the PTI was already in a strong position in the two cities and key party leaders, including Asad Umar, Murad Saeed, Ali Muhammad Khan and Qasim Khan Suri, were already present in the cities to charge the crowd.
According to Dawn News, PTI leaders and supporters in Karachi were disappointed at the party's decision to give Punjab precedence over Karachi.
“It definitely hurts the momentum,” a PTI MNA from Sindh told Dawn. “It obviously dents the campaign. It’s not only about workers and leaders at Karachi level. It’s more about millions of people who were expecting him to be here among them just days before the voting."