Claim: Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari claimed that a Gallup survey has revealed 71% of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s residents prefer Chief Minister of Punjab Mayam Nawaz’s performance over that of Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur.
Fact: The claim is false. The survey revealed that 50% respondents favoured Nawaz’s performance compared to 39% who preferred Gandapur’s.
On 16 July, the official X account of the Government of Punjab shared a clip of Information and Culture Minister Azma Bokhari, which was captioned: “گیلپ سروے میں71فیصد عوام وزیر اعلیٰ پنجاب مریم نواز سے مطمئن ، وزیر اعلیٰ کے پی کےعلی امین گنڈاپور سے نالاں”
[Translation: According to a Gallup survey, 71% of the people are satisfied with Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, but dissatisfied with KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.]
In the clip, Bokhari says:
“Jo Gallup ke dou survey aye hain, ek tou survey woh hai jis ke undar 71% logon ne Maryam Nawaz Sharif sahiba ko jo hai favourite wazeer e aala kaha. Aur inn mein se majority woh log hain jo PTI ke voter hain jinho ne PTI ko vote daala hai aur uske bawajood woh Ali Amin Gandapur se mutmaeen nahi hain. Aur inho ne chief minister sahiba ke haq mein yeh vota diya hai. Yeh humaray liyay, chief minister sahiba ke liyay bohat khushi ki baat hai. Aur humaray liyay bohat aitmenaan ki baat hai ke Alhumdulillah jo mehnat woh Punjab mein kar rahi hain woh pooray Pakistan mein across the board nazar bhi arahi hai aur acknowledge bhi ki ja rahi hai.”
[Translation: Two Gallup surveys have recently come out. One of them shows that 71% of people named Maryam Nawaz Sharif as their favourite chief minister. What’s notable is that the majority of these respondents are PTI voters, people who voted for PTI, but despite that, they are not satisfied with Ali Amin Gandapur. They expressed their support in favour of the Chief Minister, which is a great source of happiness for us and for the Chief Minister herself. It’s also very reassuring that, Alhamdulillah, the efforts she’s making in Punjab are being recognised and acknowledged across all of Pakistan.]
She further added:
“Doosra aik aur survey jo hai jo aaj aya hai iskay undar corruption ke upar sawal tha. Ke corruption pe unki rai kia hai tou uss ke upar KPK ki majority mein awam ne jo kaha ke Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mein jo hai corruption sab se ziada hai. Ghaliban if i’m not wrong 45% logon ne kaha ke jo unkay apnay voter thay, unho ne kaha ke Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ke andar corruption ziada hai aur koi karwai bhi nahi horahi. Aur Punjab ko bhi unho ne yahan par clean chit di ke Punjab mein corruption ki woh soorat e haal nahi hai jo Khyber Pakhtunkhwa mein dekhnay ko mil rahi hai tou Allah ka shukar hai ko yeh khalq e Khuda jo hai uski jo awaz ko lalkara hai.”
[Translation: The second survey, which was released today, focused on corruption. When people were asked about their views on corruption, the majority responded that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has the highest level of corruption. If I’m not mistaken, around 45% of respondents, many of them PTI’s voters, said there is widespread corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and no action is being taken against it. In contrast, Punjab was given a clean chit, with respondents saying that the corruption situation there is not comparable to what’s being seen in KPK. So we thank God that the voice of the people has spoken.]
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reviewed the Gallup survey referenced by Bokhari in the press conference and found that they were conducted on — 3,000 residents from the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only, and not from all of Pakistan. According to section 2.5, “Gauging Public Satisfaction with Accountability in Mega Projects,” 71% of residents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, not in all of Pakistan, agreed that the provincial government should conduct investigations into corruption during PTI’s 13 year-long tenure.
The report further revealed that a majority of voters across all political parties support the demand for a corruption probe in KP. Notably, 71% of PTI voters also expressed the need for such investigations into their own party’s tenure.
Soch Fact Check then reviewed Section 10.1, “Confidence in Provincial Leadership and Policymakers.” According to the findings, 50% of respondents believed Maryam Nawaz was performing better than Ali Amin Gandapur, while 39% preferred Gandapur.
The report noted that the view that Nawaz outperformed Gandapur was shared by a majority of people across demographic groups, including age, education, region, and urban-rural location. However, none of the statistics showing support for Nawaz’s performance matched the 71% figure cited by Bokhari.
Specifically among PTI supporters, only 37% believed that the Chief Minister of Punjab was performing better than the Chief Minister of KP.
A keyword search revealed that PML-N’s official X account had also shared the results from the survey, writing:
“گیلپ سروے کے نتائج نے خیبرپختونخوا میں علی امین گنڈاپور کی گرتی ہوئی مقبولیت کو بے نقاب کر دیا ہے۔ 50 فیصد شہریوں نے وزیراعلیٰ مریم نواز کی کارکردگی کو گنڈاپور سے بہتر قرار دیا جن میں 37 فیصد پی ٹی آئی کے اپنے حامی شامل تھے۔ نوجوان طبقہ روزگار، تعلیم اور سیکیورٹی جیسے بنیادی مسائل پر مایوسی کا شکار ہے۔”
[Translation: The results of the Gallup survey have exposed Ali Amin Gandapur’s declining popularity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 50% citizens rated Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s performance as better than Gandapur’s, including 37% of PTI’s supporters. The youth, in particular, are disillusioned with the government over fundamental issues such as employment, education, and security.]
Virality
The claim was shared here (archive) and here (archive) on Facebook.
On X, it was shared here, here, here, here, and here. Archived here, here, here, here, and here.
Conclusion: The Gallup survey quoted by Azma Bokhari does not show that 71% of KP’s residents are satisfied with Maryam Nawaz’s performance over Ali Amin Gandapur’s. It instead revealed that 50% of the respondents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa preferred Nawaz’s performance compared to 39% preferring Gandapur’s.
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Background image in cover photo: The News
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