Despite Khan’s ban and conviction on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption to illegal marriage, lakhs of the former cricketer’s supporters came out to vote for him, regardless of whether he served any time during his stay in jail. Cannot become part of the government.
However, under Pakistan’s electoral laws, independent candidates are not eligible to be allotted reserved seats, 70 of which are to be distributed according to party strength. Sharif’s party can get up to 20 of these seats.
Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide and media advisor to Khan, told Reuters that the party would announce within the party banner the next day that they would ask independent candidates to join. In Pakistan, independent candidates cannot form a government on their own and are required to join a party.
“And we have no fear of independent people going anywhere, because these are the people who have fought for the last 18 months and endured all kinds of torture and oppression,” Bukhari told Reuters in a WhatsApp voice message.