Politics

‘PTI’s popularity is 70%’: How credible is the survey Imran Khan cited?

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

Former prime minister Imran Khan has made a bullish claim, insisting that a recent survey finds his political party’s popularity soaring to 70% in the Punjab province. But the survey Khan has cited, may be based on limited and arguably sketchy data, Geo Fact Check finds.

“Look at this graph,” the 70-year-old leader said, in a recorded video message on Wednesday, “The result of a survey. This tells you that right now the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is 70% popular.”

He repeated the claim in an interview with Al Jazeera on the same day.

The survey Khan is quoting was conducted by an Islamabad-based think tank, which goes by the name of Republic Policy.

As per the website of the think tank, the poll was conducted between May 10 and 15 in Punjab and its data found that 70% of the respondents it reached out to had a favourable opinion of Imran Khan.

While the former prime minister’s political rivals, Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz had a combined popularity of only 18%.

However, neither the think tank’s web portal nor its YouTube channel provides any additional information on the methodology used to collect the information, the cities and rural areas in Punjab it targeted or the sample size of the survey.

Tahir Maqsood Chheena, one of the heads of Republic Policy, told Geo Fact Check over the phone, that 10-15 students, who worked as volunteers, helped him complete the survey.

“I also called people myself,” he added, “People who I knew, as well as sent teams in the field.”

Even more astounding is the sample size of the survey.

Chheena alleged that the think tank interviewed 25 people in each union council of the province. Punjab has over 4,015 union councils, which would mean that the Republic Policy reached out to an astounding 100,375 people in just five days.

“I cannot tell you an exact number of the sample size,” Chheena said, “It could have been 90,000 or 100,000.”

When asked if his team identified people scientifically, based on their income and profession, amongst other things. He said: “We did nothing as such. You have the right to say we did not do it [the survey] properly. Next time we will keep this in mind.”

The Republic Policy conducted a similar survey in March, where it again found Imran Khan’s popularity to be 62% in Punjab, much ahead of all other politicians.

Bilal Gilani, the executive director at Gallup Pakistan, said that in order to determine the quality of a survey it is important to tell the readers the sample size and the profile of the respondents interviewed, in terms of profession etc.

“I saw this survey and it didn’t tell you the sample size or the profiles,” he told Geo Fact Check.

He added that as per the international code of ethics for polling organisations, they must transparently disclose all information about themselves, including what they do and how.

“Even these details are scarce about the Republic Policy,” he said.

What is Republic Policy?

The think tank was launched in November 2022, Chheena said. It is run by him and “some other friends” who are all retired civil servants. Chheena himself is a former police official.

On social media, most of its tweets are favourable to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Latest News

188 cases nationwide have been filed against the PTI founder.

Published

3 days ago

Farwa

This increase, according to details, followed the submission of a report to the Islamabad High Court in response to a petition brought by Norin, the sister of the PTI founder.

Punjab has the most cases against Imran Khan (99), according to the Ministry of Interior’s report that breaks down the cases by area.

There are 76 cases in Islamabad, according to the Islamabad Police data, compared to two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In addition, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is investigating three instances, while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is still investigating seven cases.

Cases against Imran Khan also concern the protests in October, November, and December. In addition, there is an ongoing appeal in the Toshakhana criminal case against his sentencing.

Yesterday, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder along with 60 other PTI leaders were indicted in the GHQ attack case.

Imran Khan and sixty other party leaders were charged in the GHQ attack case by Judge Amjad Ali Shah of the anti-terrorism court.

Imran Khan, who is presently detained at Adiala Jail, was released on bail in the Toshakhana case but was arrested again by the police in the New Town PS case.

Latest News

There are now 76 cases against PTI founder Imran in Islamabad.

Published

4 days ago

Farwa

76 complaints have been filed against the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the federal capital, according to a report provided to the court by the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police.

The article claims that after the D-Chowk demonstration, 14 more complaints were filed against him, increasing the total number of cases that had been brought against him before.

A plea submitted by his sister, Noreen Niazi, asking for information on cases filed against the PTI founder was dismissed by the Islamabad High Court.

In court, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) provided case data, while the Interior Secretary provided reports on cases from Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Once all pertinent information was submitted, the court adjourned and dismissed Noreen Niazi’s

Latest News

Exposing PTI’s misleading narrative about Tahir Abbas

Published

1 week ago

Farwa

During a recent PTI demonstration in Islamabad, a guy is seen falling from a container in a video that has gone viral on social media. In order to support what security officials have referred to as “fake propaganda,” PTI used this clip to assert that the person had passed away. Investigations have shown that the individual in question, Tahir Abbas, 38, is still alive and making a full recovery.

Tahir Abbas, who lives in Tehsil Phalia in the Mandi Bahauddin District and is the son of Faiz Ahmed, was hurt in the fall and is now at his brother-in-law’s house in Rawalpindi after undergoing basic medical care at a hospital.

Technical investigations revealed that Tahir Abbas had turned off his phone and was using a different number, which made it difficult to track him at first. making use of his device’s IMEI.

On November 21, 2024, Tahir Abbas, a farmer and visa agent, reportedly visited Islamabad for visa-related reasons. Later, when the tragedy happened, he joined the PTI protest.

Subsequent investigations showed that Tahir Abbas works for the PTI and is connected to PP-41 PTI MPA Bisma Riaz Chaudhry. It’s interesting to note that reports revealed Abbas had previously belonged to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) before deciding to join the PTI.

Security personnel have made it clear that any allegations about his death are completely untrue. Additionally, Abbas’s family has verified his present whereabouts and state of health. Authorities are still looking into his actions and how he was involved in the PTI demonstration.