On June 25, Ali Zafar had initiated a poll on Twitter and wrote, “Would you agree with Federal Govts proposal/decision to reopen educational institutions by July 15? @Shafqat_Mahmood #coronavirus”
In the Tweet, Ali Zafar tagged PTI’s (Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf) Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood. That poll received 15,304 votes, with 67% of the voters answering in “NO” and in their responses to this thread indicated that the decision to reopen early could risk the students and their families.
After that poll closed, Ali Zafar initiated another one, and this time he had a straightforward question, “Vote. “From the last two years of Government’s performance, I am …” #poll #PTIGovernment“
Imran Khan’s PTI government has been in the limelight due to matters relating to the government’s response to handling the coronavirus crisis, and more recently with the hike in petrol prices by 25% at the pumps in Pakistan.
Minister for Power and Petroleum Omar Ayub Khan on Saturday said, prices of petroleum products in international market had witnessed a surge of 112 percent during the last 46 days, but the government increased just by 25 percent as it believed to give maximum relief to masses under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Ali Zafar’s Twitter Poll came at a sensitive time, and this particular tweet received interesting responses from Ali Zafar’s followers and social medial respondents. There have been social media debates recently both in favour and against PTI government, with those in favour making comments stating how the current government is faced with several mafias within the current setup. And, that the coronavirus and economic situation of the country has further aggravated the challenges faced by the current PTI government due to the poor handling of the economy by previous governments.
Some social media commentators also recommended to Ali Zafar to conduct a similar poll on the previous two governments’ performance, “Ali I hope you will have another poll on performance of previous 2 Governments.“
Ali Zafar retweeted ARY Digital Network’s CEO Jerjees Seja’ comments, “I hope that we will get to see concrete steps to rectify the issues rather than just blaming it on the past govt. ppl need to see the positive change in the system rather than blame game. Change is what was promised and change is what should be delivered”
Now that Ali Zafar’s Twitter poll has closed, what did it reveal? More than 129,000 tweeps voted in the poll, and that’s how Ali Zafar announced the results:
Final result. 129, 915 votes in 24 hrs with a 66%-34 % ratio in favour of #PTI.
While this poll has closed in favour of Imran Khan’s PTI government, one thing’s for sure, Ali Zafar has initiated a good debate on matters of social interest that common people are faced with. Perhaps, in contrast to this poll which has two options, “Satisfied” vs “Disappointed” there could have been a third option, “Undecided” as the current government is in its two years, and there are three more years to go.
Featured Photo: Ali Zafar performing in Toronto | @ApnaHub
