<\/p>\n
Former information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday announced that he and his \u201cgroup\u201d would \u201ccompletely boycott\u201d the upcoming general elections, terming the electoral process \u201cfake\u201d.<\/p>\n
The imprisoned politician made the remarks in a handwritten letter addressed to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a copy of which is available with Dawn.com<\/em>. His official account on X also reposted a copy of the letter his brother Faisal shared on the social media platform.<\/p>\n In the letter, Fawad stated that \u201cunder these circumstances, my group and I announce a complete boycott of these elections\u201d. It was not immediately clear which group he was referring to.<\/p>\n Fawad was one of many PTI leaders who had left the party<\/a> following violence in the country on May 9, when former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested<\/a> from the Islamabad High Court premises.<\/p>\n Although Fawad had said at the time that he was \u201ctaking a break from politics\u201d, he was seen at the launch ceremony<\/a> of the Jahangir Khan Tareen-led Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) in June. However, He has kept quiet on whether he is officially a part of the IPP \u2014 which has been joined by several PTI leaders in the aftermath of May 9.<\/p>\n He was arrested<\/a> from Islamabad on November 4 in a corruption case and has been in custody since.<\/p>\n In his letter, Fawad recalled that the ECP had failed to hold elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa<\/a> and Punjab<\/a> last year after the respective provincial assemblies had been dissolved<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe aim of elections is to provide the public with the authority to \u2018choose\u2019,\u201d he stated, before proceeding to detail recent actions taken against him in the run-up to the February 8 polls.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, I was arrested in false cases so that I resign from [contesting] the elections myself,\u201d he said. He further stated that his nomination papers were rejected<\/a>, while the subsequent appeal was also rejected<\/a> by a Rawalpindi election tribunal.<\/p>\n He added that when his brother Faraz went to Jhelum to submit his nomination papers, \u201che was arrested and threatened\u201d and also told that \u201cyou should not be seen back in Jhelum\u201d.<\/p>\n The former PTI leader said that despite facing \u201cobstructions\u201d, he, his wife and brother filed their nomination papers. However, the couple\u2019s candidature was rejected by the returning officers for \u201cnot declaring two plots in a [housing] society in Jhelum\u201d.<\/p>\n Fawad added that when he challenged the rejection in the relevant high court, he \u201cfound out that no such society existed in Jhelum\u201d. \u201cNeither ownership of any land nor any request for a plot or any transaction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The politician then claimed that the court set aside the RO\u2019s objections but his candidature was still rejected for a \u201cwrong verification page\u201d and for \u201cnot declaring our Easypaisa account\u201d.<\/p>\n Without specifying any political affiliation, he stated, \u201cAll of my workers and leaders were threatened. They were arrested and ordered to avoid taking part in the electoral process.\u201d<\/p>\n