— Election marred by clashes between PML-N, PTI workers
— PTI protests against ‘record vote fraud’ by ruling party
ISLAMABAD: Candidates fielded by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have taken lead in the unofficial results emerged in the by-polls held on nearly two dozen national and provincial seats on Sunday, as per unofficial and preliminary results.
Following the swearing-in of the new assemblies, Pakistan’s first by-elections on 21 vacant national and provincial assembly seats were held amid sporadic incidents of clashes between workers of different political parties in Punjab.
Major political parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed Sunni Ittehad Council and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) participated in the by-polls.
The voting on the by-polls, conducted after the February 8 general elections, started at 8am and concluded at 5pm today.
During the polling process, the federal government suspended mobile phone services temporarily in several districts of Punjab and Balochistan in a decision that was taken to safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process.
PTI protests against ‘record vote fraud’
PTI Chairman Gohar Khan said that “rigging records were broken throughout the day”.
In a post on X, the party said that several party leaders, including Gohar and opposition leader Omer Ayub were stopped by police in Gujarat when they tried to meet the returning officer.
“The media is also not being allowed to enter the office of the returning officer,” Gohar was quoted as saying.
From the outset of polling, PTI claimed that the process was rigged, saying that “stuffed ballot boxes” were found in PP-32 Gujarat.
PTI President Parvez Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi said boxes had been stuffed before polling even started in Gujarat, adding that the Malkowal polling station had been closed so further ballot boxes could be stuffed.
PTI leader Hammad Azhar claimed that complete booklets of “fake votes” were found in Gujarat.
“They didn’t even bother to separate individual voter slips from its book to make it look genuine,” he said in a post on X.
In a separate post, he accused a “section of the media” of “running fake results” on TV.
Another PTI leader Meher Bano Qureshi said that by-elections were “more brazen, more shameless and more of a farce” than the February 8 elections.
“Polling stalled, stations closed, ballots stuffed, fake form 45s prepared and Punjab Police doing what it knows best, intimidating and bullying citizens out to exercise their vote,” she said in a post on her X account.
The alleged rigging, she said, proved that the government has “already lost against a man they’ve locked up for 34 years on bogus charges and they’re petrified” because the nation stood with incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.
Vote count still underway
Counting of votes was underway late Sunday night amid allegations of massive election rigging by PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidates.
Earlier, polling for 21 national and provincial assembly seats concluded a 5pm on Sunday with strict security arrangements made by the federal government to ensure a smooth voting process.
The government approved the deployment of the civil armed forces and Pakistan Army troops during the polling process. The civil armed forces and army troops were on standby to provide second and third-tier security respectively on the polling day.
A clash between Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers in Narowal’s PP-54 constituency resulted in the death of a PML-N worker.
Muhammad Yousaf, aged 60, lost his life after being struck on the head with a stick during the fight. Despite being taken to a local hospital, he succumbed to his injuries.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar strongly condemned the incident.
Deceased Yousaf was a worker of the PML-N, said the minister in a news statement while expressing condolences for the bereaved family over the demise of the party worker.
“Muhammad Yousaf’s blood will not go in vain,” he said while vowing to bring the killers to justice.
According to a notification, the civil armed forces and army troops were deployed in 21 constituencies from April 20 to 22.
The Interior Ministry issued these orders after the approval of the federal government.
Polling began at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break.
In Punjab, 174 candidates were vying for positions, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has 49 candidates in the race. Punjab boasts 21.77 million male and 18.67 million female registered voters who will exercise their democratic rights.
Meanwhile, KP has 1.471 million voters who can participate in the by-elections. Punjab will host 663 male, 649 female, and 1289 joint polling stations, with a total of 892 polling stations set up in K-P.
For the National Assembly constituency NA-196 in Sindh, 4.239 million voters are eligible to vote. Five candidates will compete in this constituency, which will have 933 polling stations.
In Balochistan, 125 polling stations have been established across two provincial constituencies, where 163,000 voters will cast their votes.
A control room has been set up in the provincial election commissioners’ offices to address any concerns. Additionally, the installation of CCTV cameras at sensitive polling stations was completed as well.
The federal government has also decided to temporarily suspend cellular services in certain districts of Punjab and Balochistan during the by-elections.
In a statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that in line with the directions of the interior ministry, cellular services will be temporarily suspended in specific districts of the two provinces for two days.
The authority added that the decision had been made to safeguard the integrity and security of the electoral process.
The NA seats include NA-8 and NA-44 (KP) NA-119 and NA-132 (Punjab) and NA-196 (Sindh). Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won one seat in the form of NA-207, Nawabshah from where Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has been elected unopposed.
The provincial assembly seats include PK-22 and PK-91 (KP), PB-20 and PB-22 (Balochistan) and PS-80 (Sindh). The Punjab Assembly seats where the by-polls are taking place include PP-32 (Gujrat), PP-36 (Wazirabad), PP-54 (Narowal), PP-93 (Bhakkar), PP-139 (Sheikhupura), PP-147, PP-149, PP-158, PP-164 (Lahore), PP-266 (Rahim Yar Khan) and PP-290 (Dera Ghazi Khan).
The NA-119 (Lahore) was vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and PML-N’s Ali Pervez Malik is up against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed SIC’s Shahzad Farooq for the seat.
Moreover, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) candidate Muhammad Zaheer and six independent candidates are also vying for the seat.
Meanwhile, elections are also being held on PP-147 (Lahore), which was vacated by PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz. PML-N’s Malik Riaz, SIC’s Muhammad Madni, Shahrukh Jamal, TLP’s Muhammad Yasin and eight independent candidates are aiming for the slot.
The seat PP-149 (Lahore) was vacated by Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s (IPP) Abdul Aleem Khan. IPP’s Shoaib Siddiqui, SIC’s Zeeshan Rashid, TLP’s Muhammad Zaheer and 11 independents are seeking to win the seat.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vacated NA-132 (Kasur) and two of his provincial assembly seats in Lahore, PP-158 and PP-164, while retaining his NA-123 seat in the National Assembly.
A very tough contest is expected in NA-132 on which SIC’s Muhammad Hussain Dogar is contesting against PML-N’s Malik Rasheed Ahmad Khan, whereas the TLP is also in contest.
PML-N’s Chaudhry Muhammad Nawaz, SIC’s Moonis Elahi, TLP’s Muhammad Munir and 19 independent candidates vied for the PP-158 seat vacated by PM Shehbaz.
Meanwhile, SIC’s Muhammad Yousuf, PML-N’s Rashid Minhas are eyeing the PP-164 slot.
Meanwhile, in Sindh, voting took place on NA-196 (Qamber Shadadkot). This seat was vacated by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
In KP, the polling took place on NA-44 (Dera Ismail Khan) seat which was left vacant after Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur retained his provincial assembly seat, PK-113.
By-poll was held on the NA-8 (Bajaur) seat, the election for the seat was suspended ahead of the February 8 general elections after one of the candidates Rehan Zeb Khan was murdered.
Signatures obtained on blank Form 45s
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took notice of complaints against a presiding officers (POs) for receiving signatures of polling agents on blank Form 45 in Lahore’s PP-149 constituency during by-elections.
The top electoral body sought a report from the Punjab election commissioner to carry out legal action.
Similarly, the electoral body also took notice of another incident of interruption in the electoral process today after some armed men entered a polling station in Balochistan’s PB-50 Qilla Abdullah.
The chief election commissioner personally telephoned the provincial police chief and sought a report to take strict action against the responsible.
Same claims were made by polling officers in Lahore where PML-N and PTI-backed candidates fought in the by-polls.
