The ruling PML-N on Monday emerged victorious in Sunday’s by-elections on 21 national and provincial seats, according to provisional results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
On Sunday, by-polls were held across the country amid allegations of “record rigging”, temporary suspension of cellular services in specific districts of Punjab and Balochistan and multiple incidents of violence, leading to the death of a PML-N supporter in a clash outside a Narowal polling station.
By-elections were held on five NA seats, including two from Punjab, two from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Sindh. Further, 12 provincial seats were also up for grabs in Punjab as well as two each in KP and Balochistan.
Separately, re-polling in all constituencies of Balochistan’s PB-50 (Qila Abdullah) was also held.
According to the provisional results (Forms-47) issued by the ECP, out of the five NA seats, the PML-N won two from Punjab while the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and an independent candidate won one each from KP. Meanwhile, the PPP clinched the NA seat from Sindh.
In Punjab, the PML-N grabbed 10 provincial seats while the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) won one. In KP, the provincial results mirrored those of the NA constituencies there, with the SIC and independent bagging one seat each.
In Balochistan, the PML-N and the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) won one provincial seat each. Separately, the Awami National Party (ANP) also won a provincial seat from PB-50, where re-polling was conducted.
Meanwhile, in Sindh, where by-elections were only held on NA-196, the PPP emerged victorious with a huge margin.
Punjab
In Punjab, the PML-N won two NA seats and 10 Punjab Assembly seats while the IPP also won one provincial seat, according to the provisional ECP results. The result of PP-266 is still awaited.
PML-N’s Ali Parvez won Lahore’s NA-119 with 61,086 votes while SIC’s Shahzad Farooq got 34,197 votes. The PML-N also won Kasur’s NA-132, where its candidate Rasheed Ahmad Khan got 146,849 votes while Sardar Hussain Dogar of the SIC garnered 90,980 votes.
Lahore’s PP-146 was won by Rashid Minhas of the PML-N with 31,499 votes while SIC’s Mohammad Yusuf came second with 25,781 votes.
PML-N’s Mohammad Riaz bagged 31,841 votes in Lahore’s PP-147 whereas independent candidate Mohammad Khan Madni got 16,548 votes.
PML-N’s Chaudhry Mohammad Riaz won Lahore’s PP-158 with 40,165 votes while Moonis Elahi, the son of Parvez Elahi, received 28,018 votes as an SIC candidate.
In Narowal PP-54, where the polling process was marred with a man dying in reported clashes between PML-N and PTI workers, Ahmed Iqbal Chaudhry of the PML-N won with 59,234 votes. SIC’s Owais Qasim was the runner-up with 45,762 votes.
PML-N’s Musa Elahi won PP-32 (Gujrat-VI) with 71,357 votes against former Punjab chief minister Parvez Elahi, who contested as a Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate.
In PP-239 (Sheikhupura-IV), PML-N’s Rana Afzaal Husain bagged 46,585 votes against SIC’s Ejaz Husain, who was the runner-up with 29,833 votes.
In Wazirabad’s PP-36, PML-N’s Adnan Afzal Chatha was the unofficial winner with 74,779 votes while SIC’s Fayyaz Chatha got 58,682 votes.
The PML-N also emerged victorious in Dera Ghazi Khan’s PP-290 with its candidate Ali Ahmed Khan Leghari winning 62,484 votes. Independent candidate Sardar Mohammad Mohiuddin Khan Khosa came second with 23,670 votes.
While Bhakkar’s PP-93 saw a close contest between the PML-N and independent candidate Mohammad Afzal Khan, the former’s candidate Saeed Akbar Khan won with 62,058 votes against 58,845 of Afzal’s.
A similar contest was seen in PP-22 (Chakwal-cum-Talagang), where PML-N’s Falak Sher Awan bagged 58,845 votes against SIC’s Nisar Ahmed, who won 49,970 votes.
The IPP also managed to grab a provincial seat, with its Mohammad Shoaib Siddique receiving 47,722 votes in Lahore’s PP-149. Zeeshan Rasheed of the SIC came second with 26,200 votes.
KP
In PTI-ruled KP, the NA seat from Bajaur (NA-8) was won by Mubarak Zeb Khan, the younger brother of Rehan Zeb — an independent candidate who was shot dead in the run-up to the Feb 8 polls. Mubarak contested the by-polls as an independent candidate and grabbed 74,008 votes. SIC’s Gul Zafar Khan came second with 47,282 votes.
The NA-44 seat in Dera Ismail Khan, vacated by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, was won by his brother Faisal Amin Khan who garnered 66,879 votes against PPP’s Abdul Rasheed Khan Kundi, who won 21,979 votes.
Mubarak also won Bajaur’s PK-22, where he secured 23,386 votes against Jamaat-i-Islami’s (JI) Abid Khan, who was the runner-up with 10,477 votes while the SIC came third.
However, the SIC won Kohat’s PK-91, where its candidate Dawood Shah won 23,496 votes against independent Imtiaz Shahid, who received 16,518 votes.
Balochistan
The PML-N’s Mohammad Zareen Khan Magsi won Lasbela’s PB-22, where only a total of four candidates contested.
The BNP-M managed to win a provincial seat from Khuzdar’s PB-20, where Mir Jehanzeb Mengal emerged victorious with 28,175 votes while independent candidate Mir Shafiqur Rehman Mengal got 20,344 ballots in his favour.
Separately, in re-polling in PB-50 (Qila Abdullah), ANP’s Zamarak Khan emerged as the winner with 72,032 while Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) Mirwais Khan Achakzai came second with 57,132 votes.
Sindh
In Sindh, PPP’s Khursheed Ahmed Junejo grabbed NA-196 (Qambar-Shahdadkot) with a huge majority, winning 91,581 votes while Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s Mohammad Ali only managed to win 2,763 votes.