Pakistan’s former prime minister and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan single-handedly trounced the ruling alliance in Sunday’s by-election bagging six out of eight National Assembly seats for his party, according to unofficial data.
Khan described the unprecedented victory in by-elections, which was seen as a direct contest between PTI and the 13-party ruling coalition, as “a referendum” on his popularity.
Khan contested on seven out of the eight National Assembly seats, which were declared vacant after PTI members resigned from the assembly following the removal of the PTI government through a vote of no-confidence in April. Sunday’s by-elections were held on seats where the resignations of PTI MNAs were accepted by the Speaker National Assembly Raja Parvaiz Ashraf.
Who won where?
PTI
According to the unofficial results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the PTI Chairman won:
- Three National Assembly seats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa: Peshawar, Mardan, andCharsadda
- Two National Assembly seats in Punjab: Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib, and
- One National Assembly seat in Sindh: Korangi district of Karachi
- PTI won two Punjab Assembly seats: Khanewal and Bahawalnagar
PPP
PPP won:
- One seat in Punjab: Multan
- One seat in Sindh: Malir district of Karachi
PML-N
- PML-N won only one Punjab Assembly seat: Sheikhupura
PTI’s MeherBano Qureshi contested for the Multan seat but lost to PPP’s Ali Musa Gilani, son of ex-prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. The only NA seat that Imran Khan lost was NA-237 Malir-II, where PPP’s Hakeem Baloch returned victorious.
Voting remained peaceful
Earlier, voting started at 8 am on Sunday and continued until 5 pm. Overall, voting remained peaceful. However, there were some incidents of clashes here and there. PTI Karachi President Bilal Ghaffar was injured in an alleged attack in Malir. There were also reports of altercations between PTI and the Awami National Party (ANP) workers in Peshawar. Nevertheless, polling wasn’t stopped anywhere.
Low turnout
The turnout remained low in the by-polls. Experts believe the abysmal voter turnout despite massive campaigning should be a cause of concern for both sides – the ousted PTI and the ruling alliance.