PML-N regains ground with lead on majority of seats

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was leading in the by-polls held on nearly two dozen national and provincial seats on Sunday, as per unofficial and preliminary results. Polling continued from 8 am until 5 pm without any break – across five National Assembly seats, 12 Punjab Assembly seats, two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats and two Balochistan Assembly seats – amid sporadic incidents of clashes between workers of different political parties, leading to death of one PML-N worker, Muhammad Yousaf in Narowal. Police said that the PML-N worker was taken to hospital where he succumbed to injuries, adding that the polling was stopped in this constituency. Elections were originally scheduled for 23 constituencies. However, the results of two seats, one national [NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad] and one provincial [PS-80 Dadu], had already been announced. PPP’s Aseefa Bhutto Zardari was elected unopposed on the NA-207 Shaheed Benazirabad seat, while the PS-80 Dadu seat was secured by Zubair Ahmad Junejo. In Punjab, PML-N candidates were leading over their competitors mainly from the Sunni Ittehad Council which is backed by the PTI. As per unofficial results, the Sharif-led party also won PA seat from Balochistan and one NA seat from Lahore. According to unverified results, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) secured one PA seat from Lahore. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), however, won a NA seat from Kamber Shahdadtkot. 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. Meanwhile, at the request of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the government also deployed Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces (CAF) troops during the polling process. Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal condemned the “murder” of the PML-N worker in Narowal. While speaking to the media, Iqbal accused PTI workers of his party worker’s death. “The murderers would not be spared from the law,” he said adding that he would call the deceased a “political martyr”. “He stood for the right cause, for which he was killed,” he added. The ECP took notice of the incident and said that a formal investigation will be conducted outside Narowal’s Zafarwal polling station. “Regional Election Commissioner Gujranwala has been appointed the inquiry officer for the probe,” an ECP spokesperson said. The ECP also took notice of a presiding officer signing a blank form 45 in Punjab Assembly217;s PP-149 Lahore constituency, it said in a press release on its wesbite. The commission has sought an immediate report from the Election Commissioner Punjab so that this matter can be resolved and the commission can take further legal action. In Sheikhupura’s PP-139, the polling process was temporarily stopped after a “firing incident”. In a statement, the Punjab election commissioner’s office said that due to a “firing incident” at a polling station (Government Primary School Nizampura), the polling process had been stopped. However, it had later resumed after the police controlled the situation, the statement added. In Lahore, at polling station number 171 (Lahore College), workers of the PTI and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) coalition had a scuffle with those of the PML-N on the issue of setting up polling camps. The argument was then resolved with the help of police. The provincial election commission’s control room also took notice of reports of the polling process in Gujrat and Rahim Yar Khan’s PP-266 stopping. In a separate statement, the spokesperson said that the police controlled the situation at the polling station in question in Gujrat. It added that a scuffle in Rahim Yar Khan took place outside a polling station at Mohib Shah. Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party’s (IPP’s) Shoaib Siddiqui claimed there were reports of a face-off in Union Council 184. Separately, SIC’s Mian Shahzad Farooq claimed that his party workers were being arrested in NA-119 and that the polling agent had been forced out of the returning officer’s office after he went there to file a complaint.