Pakistan general election | Imran Khan’s party says its polling agents picked by police in Punjab province

Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has claimed it was emerging as the lead party in polls held Thursday and would form governments both at the centre and in provinces, as it thanked people on his behalf for speaking up via a "massive turnout" despite attempt to undermine their will.

In a statement issued late Thursday night, PTI chief organiser Omar Ayub Khan and PTI Parliamentary Leader in Senate Barrister Ali Zafar said that preliminary results were very encouraging for their party, showing it as convincingly leading on an overwhelming number of seats across the country.

They said Imran Khan showed the country a new path by expressing unwavering faith in the constitution, law and democracy despite the "worst state interference in the electoral process and pre-poll rigging".