Populist leader Imran Khan, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has emerged as the single-largest party in the July 25 elections, is scrambling to garner a simple majority in the parliament to form a new government. According to the final tally, his party and allies still fall short of 10 seats to form the government with a simple majority.

The PTI has secured 115 out of 272 general seats of the National Assembly followed by Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) of the jailed ex-Premier, Nawaz Sharif, and center-left Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which has grabbed 64 and 43 seats, respectively. The five-party religious alliance Muttehida Majlis Amal (MMA) could win only 11 seats.

Other parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) won six seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) five seats, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) two seats and Balochistan National Party (BNP) two seats; the Awami Muslim League (AML), Awami National Party (ANP) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) won one seat each.

Independent candidates across the country bagged 14 seats. All the winning parties will also share some 70 seats reserved for women and religious minorities as per their respective seat ratio. Since the PTI has rejected the possibility of joining hands with the PML-N, PPP, and MMA, it is trying to woo smaller parties and the independent candidates to form the government.