Islamabad: Senior PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry called out coalition government for trying to push party “against wall”, saying that imposing a ban on party and Imran Khan was beyond PML-N’s control.

Ex-minister’s statement comes after Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that PTI received millions of dollars from 351 foreign companies and 34 foreign nationals. Commission also sought an explanation as to why prohibited funds party received should not be forfeited.

Addressing a press conference here, Fawad said Imran had a huge public following. No one should think of “sidelining him from mainstream politics,” he said. He claimed government was “running away” from elections as it feared defeat at hands of PTI.

He said that party would soon demand government seek a vote of confidence from parliament. “We are deliberating upon date for it,” he added.

During his press conference, former minister accused government of running a campaign against overseas Pakistanis aiming to “label them as non-Pakistanis” just because they support PTI. He said overseas Pakistanis were outraged by ECP’s verdict and were now sending more donations than ever.

He pointed out that Article 15 of Elections Act outlined process for dissolving a political party. However, he added that ECP had no authority to take such a step. He regretted that ECP was being used as a “tool” by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). He also lamented fact that ECP did not seek an explanation from PTI about individuals funding party and declared them to be “non-Pakistanis and foreigners” without conducting a fact-check.

“One of people included was Romita Shetty, an American. She shares a joint bank account with her husband, Nasir Hussain. But her donation has been declared as prohibited by ECP,” Chaudhry said, adding that there were more examples of such discrepancies. Fawad said PTI was also being censured over its connection to businessman Arif Naqvi. “I must clarify that Naqvi had no charges against him in 2011-12 when he had donated funds to party,” he said. PTI leader demanded electoral watchdog also audit accounts of PPP, PML-N and JUI-F. Fawad accuses ECP of issuing two PTI funding verdicts.