Opinion: Braveheart Imran - Nawaz vanquished as PTI emerges as new Lion in Punjab

Imran Khan has once againfought like a cornered tiger. This time in Punjab and bluntedNawaz Sharif's PML-N in its "home ground".

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) had won just 35 seats during the National Assembly elections held in 2013. At the time, it was even behind Pakistan's People's Party(PPP) which had won 42 seats. Nawaz Sharif who is languishing in Adiala Jail had vanquished the Opposition five years ago winning 166 seats easily gaining a majority in the 272-seat national assembly.

PTI's voteshare in 2013 was exactly half of PML-N as it managed just over 16 per cent share as against PML-N which won 32 per cent. However, in the elections this time Imran's party is clearly stealing the march over Nawaz's party. Punjab has always been a PML-N fortress but the Pathan from Lahore has clearly injured the lion in his lair.

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Nawaz Sharif's being put bars notwithstanding, PTI in a shrewd move started its campaign early holding rallies in Pakpattan, Khanewal, Mianwali, Rahimyar Khan, Kot Addu (Muzaffargarh) and Attock districts last year. The task for Imran was mammoth as his party had won just 6 seats from Punjab in the last elections.

Imran also engineered a coup within the PML-N by successfully poaching sitting National Assembly members to split the party down the middle. The "turncoat formula" became the ultimate outswinger for Imran's party which completely bowled out the Opposition in several areas.

In the end, the 'get Punjab' strategy began to bear fruit as the ballot boxes opened on Wednesday night.

"Captain" Imran of course in true style led from the front winning the Mianwali seat in Lahore easily garnering 127,530 votes.

Imran played a tactical game too, choosing to split Punjab by constituting a committee in his party to put forward a proposal to create a separate south Punjab province just two months ahead of the polls in order to create an impression on voters.

Latest trends show PTI which was targeting 100 seats has the lead in 96 seats - a great leap for a party which was founded just 22 years ago. Imran had targeted all 150 seats in the crucial PML-N stronghold to corner Sharif's candidates. The ex-captain'sstrategy worked as PML-N was left almost headless with Nawaz in jail, naturally, it didn't take long for Imran to gain the initiative.

Imran may have won just 1 seat in 2002 but in a space of just over 16 years, the PTI has emerged as the single largest party in the national assembly, a feat possible mainly due to Imran the "Lionheart''.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)