ISLAMABAD, May 12: Though Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-I-Insaf (PTI) has lost the elections, his young fans are still active on the social media.
The PTI fans have joined their leader calling for re-elections because of the alleged rigging.
Imran Khan during a video message to his supporters said because of the rigging in different parts of the country, his party had lost a number of seats. He said they would lodge a protest with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and also issue a whitepaper in this regard.
And the PTI youth have also launched a post-elections protest campaign along with the demand for re-elections specifically in Punjab.
"How could Imran Khan lose from Lahore? I can bet there is an unfair play from the establishment," said Atiya Durrani, a young PTI fan on Facebook.
Ayesha Mumtaz, a medical graduate, said: "Let there be re-elections in the country, especially in Punjab from where PTI lost on the national and provincial assembly seats against the PML-N.”
Within a span of 24 hours, a number of pages have emerged on Facbook where young voters have started a campaign to inform people about the alleged rigging.
"How come Saad Rafique of the PML-N was declared the winner against Hamid Khan on Sunday morning when he (Khan) was winning on Saturday evening?" asked Usman Zaheer, another PTI fan.
Mudassar Khan, a social media expert who is running an internet-based advertising agency, told Dawn: "PTI fans numbering in millions have shown their resentment on the social media either by establishing new Facebook pages or by updating their status."
But despite all the anger no online advertising campaign has been started against the alleged rigging, said Mudassar. He said his advertising agency could not filter an online or social media advertisement against the ECP or the PML-N.
Few of the fans have also posted video clips showing rigging at unknown polling stations.
Afzal Hussain, a PTI fan, said about his video clip: "Look at the PPP and PML-N jiyalas managing votes against the PTI."
The two-minute video clip showed two people stamping votes on their own without any polling officer in the sight at an unknown polling station.
