Amid the Election Commission of Pakistan drawing flak over the delay in declaration of the results of the general elections, former PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Saturday released a ‘victory speech’ in his AI-enabled voice, saying that the ‘London Plan’ of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif failed with the massive turnout of voters on polling day.

“My beloved countrymen. By turning out in such huge numbers and exercising your democratic right of franchise, you have laid the foundation for the restoration of the freedom to exercise citizens’ rights. I congratulate you all on helping us win the elections handsomely. I had full faith in your turning out in such large numbers to cast your ballots. You lived up to my trust and the massive turnout on election day surprised many. The ‘London Plan’ because of your active participation in the democratic exercise. Nawaz Sharif is a leader of low intelligence who gave a victory speech despite his party trailing in 30 seats,” the former PM and PTI founder said in an audio clip of his AI-enabled voice on social media platform X.

Expanding on his party’s claims of rigging and electoral malfeasance, Imran said, “No Pakistani will accept this (elecoral malpractice) and the international media has also reported extensively about it. As per the Form 45 data, we are on course to win more than 170 National Assembly seats. My fellow countrymen, you all have set a date for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. We are winning the 2024 elections with a two-thirds majority. Everyone has seen the power of your vote. Now show your ability to preserve and protect it.”

قوم کی جانب سے انتخابات میں تاریخی مقابلے، جس کے نتیجے میں تحریک انصاف کو عام انتخابات 2024 میں بے مثال کامیابی میسرآئی،کے بعد چیئرمین عمران خان کا(مصنوعی ذہانت سے تیار کردہ) فاتحانہ خطاب pic.twitter.com/8yQqes4nO9

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) February 9, 2024

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Shairf and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, co Chairman Asif Ali Zardari held a meeting in Lahore, Dawn News reported quoting sources.

The meeting came shortly after Nawaz claimed victory in general elections held a day earlier, and invited his allies to form a coalition government.

The PPP and PML-N were both part of the PDM government that took over from PTI after Imran Khan’s ouster from the prime minister’s office in 2022.

Meanwhile, according to the unofficial provisional results reported by Dawn News for 212 out of 266 seats, the independent candidates, mostly backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) are leading with 82 seats.

On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which has emerged as the single largest party, is trailing with 64 seats, followed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at 40seats.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Former Pakistani prime ministers and bitter rivals Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan on Friday both declared victory in elections marred by delayed results and militant attacks, throwing the country into further political turmoil.

Sharif’s party won the most seats by a single party in Thursday’s election, but supporters of imprisoned Khan, who ran as independents instead of as a single bloc after his party was barred from the polls, won the most seats overall.

Sharif said his party would talk to other groups to form a coalition government as it had failed to win a clear majority on its own.

Sharif’s announcement came after more than three-quarters of the 265 seats had declared results, more than 24 hours after polling ended on Thursday when 28 people were killed in militant attacks.

Analysts had predicted there may be no clear winner, adding to the woes of a country struggling to recover from an economic crisis while it grapples with rising militancy in a deeply polarised political environment.

The results showed independents, most of them backed by Khan, had won the most seats – 98 of the 245 counted by 1830 GMT.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won 69 while the Pakistan People’s Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto, got 51.

The rest were won by small parties and other independents.

“Pakistan Muslim League is the single-largest party in the country today after the elections and it is our duty to bring this country out of the whirlpool,” Sharif told a crowd of supporters gathered outside his home in the eastern city of Lahore.

“Whoever has got the mandate, whether independents or parties, we respect the mandate they have got,” he said. “We invite them to sit with us and help this wounded nation get back on its feet.”

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party released an audio-visual message created using artificial intelligence and shared on his X social media account.

In the message, which is usually delivered by word through his lawyers, Khan, 71, rejected Sharif’s claim to victory, congratulated his supporters on “winning” the election and urged them to celebrate and protect their vote.

“I trusted that you all would come out to vote – and you honoured that trust and your massive turnout has shocked everyone,” the message said, adding no one would accept Sharif’s claim because he had won fewer seats and because there had been rigging in the polls.Former cricket superstar Khan has been in jail since August, and was convicted three times in six days in the leadup to the polls for 10, 14 and seven years in cases related to state secrets, graft and an unlawful marriage.

Sharif, 74, a three-time former premier, returned from four years of self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom late last year, having contested the last election from a jail cell on a graft conviction.

He was considered the front-runner to lead the country, having buried a long-running feud with the powerful military.

Sharif said his party would have preferred to win a majority of its own but in the absence of that would get in touch with others, including former President Asif Ali Zardari of PPP, to open negotiations as early as Friday night.

In its first reaction, a senior aide of Khan said PTI leaders would hold talks among themselves and also meet Khan in jail on Saturday to discuss the results, Geo News reported.

Results of the vote have been unusually delayed, which the caretaker government ascribed to the suspension of mobile phone services – a security measure ahead of the election.

Independent members cannot form a government on their own under Pakistan’s complex election system which also includes reserved seats that will be allotted to parties based on their winnings.

But independents have the option to join any party after the elections.

Challenges For Coalition

“A timely announcement of the results, leading to a smooth formation of a new government, will reduce policy and political uncertainty,” Moody’s Investors Service said. “This is crucial for the country that is facing very challenging macroeconomic conditions.”

The delay in the announcement of results was unusual for Pakistan. Karachi’s stock index and Pakistan’s sovereign bonds fell because of the uncertainty.

The main electoral battle had been expected to be between candidates backed by Khan, whose PTI won the last national election, and the PML-N. Khan believes the powerful military is behind a crackdown to hound his party out of existence, while analysts and opponents say Sharif is being backed by the generals.

The military has dominated the nuclear-armed country either directly or indirectly in its 76 years of independence from Britain but for several years it has maintained it does not interfere in politics.

Analysts say a coalition government will struggle to tackle multiple challenges – foremost being seeking a new bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the current arrangement expires in three weeks.

A coalition government “would probably be unstable, weak” and “the big loser … will be the army”, said Marvin Weinbaum, Director of Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies at the Middle East Institute in Washington.

“Because the army really has staked its reputation on its ability to deliver this vote.”

The election was expected to help resolve the crises Pakistan has been dealing with but a fractured verdict “could very well be the basis for even deeper exposure to forces which would create instability”, he said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

An Indian-American executive died earlier this week, days after he was found with life-threatening injuries following a fight outside a Washington restaurant.

Vivek Taneja, who is from Virginia, and the suspect were at two sister Japanese restaurants on February 2, a police report said. He was “was knocked to the ground by the suspect and hit his head on the pavement”, Washington Posted cited a police report as saying.

This comes amid a spate of attacks on and deaths of Indians and Indian-Americans in the US.

Taneja, 41, left the restaurants around 2 am and the fight broke out on a nearby street, the police report said without describing the nature of the dispute. He lost consciousness in the attack and when the cops arrived, they found him with life threatening injuries and rushed him to a hospital.

He died from the injuries at the hospital on Wednesday, police said.

A search is on for the suspect who was seen on CCTV. He has not been identified.

The police have offered a $25,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to his arrest and conviction.

Earlier this week, an Indian student was left bleeding from his nose and mouth after he was attacked by robbers in Chicago. Syed Mazahir Ali, who family lives in Hyderabad, was seen in a video pleading for help following the attack.

Five Indian-origin students were reported dead in the US this year.

Sameer Kamath, an Indian-American studying at Purdue University, was found dead a nature reserve this week. Authorities said he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.

Shreyas Reddy Beniger, a 19-year-old student who held an American passport, was found dead last week, but authorities had ruled out any foul play. Another student, Neel Acharya, was found dead on the Purdue University campus earlier that week, hours after his mother had reported him missing.

Vivek Saini, a 25-year-old student from Haryana, was hammered to death by a homeless man in Georgia’s Lithonia on January 16. Akul Dhawan, another Indian student, was found dead outside the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in January.

In wake of the deaths, US envoy to India Eric Garcetti reassured that the US is committed to make sure it remains safe destination for Indian students.

“Our heart always is touched when any tragedy occurs, whether it is a life taken by somebody or any violence – no matter who they are. We are very committed to making sure that Indians know that the United States is a wonderful place to study and to be safe,” he said yesterday.