(Publish from Houston Texas USA)
(By Mian Iftikhar Ahmad)
Sub-Headings:
- Nationwide Polling Environment, Turnout and Key Incidents
- Unofficial Results of Six National Assembly Constituencies
- Results of Seven Punjab Assembly Seats and Situation in Faisalabad
- Political Reactions and Debate on Low Turnout
Faisalabad: By-elections were held on six National Assembly and seven Punjab Assembly seats on Sunday under tight security where polling began at 8 a.m. and continued uninterrupted until 5 p.m., the early hours saw low turnout due to severe cold but as the sun rose, voters came out in large numbers and activity increased at various polling stations, in NA-18 Haripur members of the transgender community cast their votes while one transgender voter complained that her address was missing in the registration, causing difficulties, an unusual scene was witnessed in Sahiwal where a groom left his wedding procession to cast his vote, in Faisalabad an elderly man arrived with the help of a walking stick while disabled citizens in several constituencies also exercised their right to vote, in Chichawatni a verbal clash occurred between supporters of PML-N and an independent candidate at the male polling station of Commerce College but the police quickly intervened and controlled the situation, overall polling remained peaceful with no major untoward incident reported, the unofficial results of NA-18 Haripur from all 206 polling stations declared PML-N’s Babar Nawaz Khan victorious with 163,996 votes while independent candidate Shehryar Ayub secured 120,220 votes, in NA-96 Faisalabad PML-N’s Bilal Chaudhry won with 93,009 votes while independent candidate Malik Nawab Sher obtained 43,025 votes, in NA-104 Faisalabad PML-N’s Raja Danial secured 52,684 votes while independent Rana Adnan Javed received 18,848 votes, in NA-129 Lahore PML-N’s Hafiz Nauman won with 63,441 votes while independent Arsalan Ahmad secured 29,099 votes, in NA-143 Sahiwal PML-N’s Chaudhry Tufail Jutt gained 136,313 votes while independent Zarrar Akbar secured 13,120 votes, in NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan PML-N’s Mahmood Qadir Leghari won with 82,413 votes while PPP’s Dost Muhammad Khosa obtained 49,262 votes, in PP-87 Mianwali PML-N’s Ali Haider Noor Khan Niazi secured victory with 67,986 votes while independent Muhammad Ayaz Khan Niazi received 3,310 votes, in PP-98 Faisalabad Azad Ali Tabassum of PML-N won with 44,388 votes while Muhammad Ajmal received 35,245 votes, in PP-115 Faisalabad Muhammad Tahir Pervaiz of PML-N secured 49,049 votes while independent Muhammad Asghar obtained 18,098 votes, in PP-116 Faisalabad Ahmad Shehryar of PML-N secured 48,824 votes while independent Malik Asghar Ali Qaisar received 11,429 votes, in PP-203 Sahiwal PML-N’s Muhammad Hanif won with 46,900 votes while independent Falak Sher secured 10,895 votes, in PP-73 Sargodha PML-N’s Sultan Ali Ranjha secured 71,770 votes while independent Mehr Mohsin Raza took 12,970 votes, PP-269 Muzaffargarh remained the only constituency where PML-N was defeated and PPP’s Mian Alamdar Abbas Qureshi won with 55,611 votes, PML-N swept both National Assembly seats NA-96 and NA-104 in Faisalabad along with provincial seats PP-98, PP-115 and PP-116, with PP-98 recording the highest turnout at 36.86 percent where the total registered voters were 289,690 and 104,888 votes were cast, NA-96 recorded a turnout of 26.46 percent with 587,124 registered voters and 155,363 votes cast, NA-104 had one of the lowest turnouts at 13.23 percent where 73,781 votes were cast out of 557,637 voters, PP-115 saw a turnout of 22.73 percent while PP-116 recorded 22.94 percent, NA-129 Lahore was the only constituency where PTI did not boycott the election as the seat fell vacant due to the demise of Mian Muhammad Azhar and not due to disqualification, the competition here was between PML-N’s Hafiz Nauman and the late Mian Azhar’s nephew Chaudhry Arsalan, PTI attempted to create a strong electoral environment and highlighted its narrative of victimization, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar termed the by-election turnout the lowest in Punjab’s history and claimed that the public had shown no confidence in the electoral process while also questioning the authenticity of NA-18 Haripur results, on the other hand Federal Information Minister Atta Tarar said that voter participation was an expression of trust in the government and that PML-N’s victories reflected the positive performance of the Punjab government, Punjab Information Minister Uzma Bukhari rejected the allegations of KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and stated that Maryam Nawaz did not participate in any by-election campaign while Sohail Afridi himself went to Haripur for electioneering, these results and political reactions have triggered new debates in the country’s political landscape with discussions continuing on the implications of these by-elections for future politics.
