Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Ahsan Saleem Baryar won the PP-38 by-election on Wednesday, beating PML-N’s Tariq Subhani by 7,117 votes, according to unofficial results.
The seat had fallen vacant after PML-N’s Akhtar Subhani passed away.
The polling kicked off at 8 am and continued unremittingly till 5 pm, however, rain affected the polling process in some areas.
PTI’s Baryar received 60,588 from 165 polling stations, according to unofficial results, while PML-N’s Subhani was able to secure 53,471 votes.
Although eight candidates were in the race, the real competition was between the PTI and PML-N candidates.
Earlier today, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain quoting media reports said that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Ahsan Saleem Baryar was close to victory in the Sialkot by-election.
In a tweet, he said this confidence of the people was a sign of the success of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political vision.
He confidently said that the ruling PTI would continue its efforts to constitute a new system in the country.
FIVE ARRESTED FOR DISPLAYING WEAPONS:
During polling, five people were arrested for displaying weapons and violating Section 144 in the constituency, a police spokesperson said.
Officials arrested Rizwan, Asim, Saleem Zafar, Rukhsar, and Ali Najam, while they also recovered weapons and several rounds from them, the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, District Police Officer Abdul Ghaffar Qaisrani said no one would be allowed to take the law into their hands and vowed to take strict action against such elements.
THE PP-38 CONSTITUENCY IN NUMBERS:
There are a total of 233,422 registered voters — 128,128 male and 105,294 female — in the constituency, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
The ECP had set up 165 polling stations and 487 polling booths — including 262 booths for male voters and 225 booths for female voters — for the by-election.
Last month, the district monitoring officer and the Election Commission of Pakistan issued show-cause notices to a PML-N MNA and four MPAs for participating in the election campaign of their party candidate by violating the election code of conduct ahead of by-polls in PP-38, Sialkot-IV, to be held on July 28.
Those who were served with notices on Monday were MNA Chaudhry Armughan Subhani and MPAs Manshaullah Butt, Chaudhry Arshad Javaid Warraich, Rana Arif Iqbal Harnah and Gulnaz Shujaat Pasha.
According to the ECP press release, an explanation was sought from the PML-N parliamentarians that why they violated the election code of conduct by participating in the election campaign of PML-N candidate Chaudhry Tariq Akhtar Subhani.
The DMO and ECP asked these PML-N parliamentarians to appear personally or through their representatives on June 23, 2021.
