Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry has announced the election boycott, terming it fake.
His brother Faisal Hussain on Monday posted a tweet with a picture of the handwritten letter by the imprisoned politician from Jehlum mentioning development.
“Former minister and his group announced the complete boycott of the so-called and fake election,” Hussain wrote on X.
In an address to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the letter by Chaudhry read “under the current circumstances, I and my group a complete boycott of the polls [scheduled to be held on February 8.”
Chaudhry was among many other leaders of the PTI who had left the party following the May 9 incident. He later joined the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, mainly comprising former PTI stalwarts including Jahangir Tareen and Aleem Khan.
Before joining the IPP, he had announced that he was taking a break from politics.
Chaudhry was arrested from Islamabad on November 4 in a corruption case. He has been in police custody for over three months.
“The objective of elections is to provide the people with the authority to choose,” he said, narrating the events he and his group were facing ahead of the elections.
Fawad Chaudhry had filed the nomination papers to contest from his home constituency seat which he had secured in the 2018 elections. But his nomination papers were rejected by the electoral watchdog. Chaudhry mentioned in the letter that first of all, he was arrested in false cases so he resigned from contesting the polls. Then, he wrote, his brother was also threatened when the latter tried to submit the nomination papers in place of his brother.
