Islamabad/Lahore (Staff Report/Agencies): The PTI managed to recapture six of its eight National Assembly seats and grabbed another two in Punjab Assembly in by-polls held on Sunday, despite being up against an alliance of almost all leading political parties of the country.
According to unconfirmed and unofficial results, PTI Chairman Imran Khan — who was contesting from seven constituencies — Sunday won the by-elections in six National Assembly seats.
The PTI lost two NA seats to the PPP, one from Sindh and the other from Punjab.
The constituencies where the PTI has won were NA-22 Mardan, NA-31 Peshawar, NA-24 Charsadda, NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII, NA-118 Nankana Sahib, NA-239-Korangi PP-209 Khanewal and PP-241 Bahawalnagar.
PPP candidate Syed Ali Musa Gillani — who is the son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani — emerged victorious over Meher Bano Qureshi, daughter of PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the NA-157 Multan-IV.
PPP’s Abdul Hakeem Baloch also grabbed NA-237 Malir-II seat by defeating Imran Khan.
However, the PML-N got just one provincial seat by winning PP-139 Sheikhupura.
The polling started at 8am without interruptions and ended at 5pm.
As polling commenced, PTI Chairman Imran Khan urged the people in the constituencies where the by-election is being held to come out in large numbers to vote.
“This is a referendum for Haqiqi Azadi from the cabal of crooks. We are contesting against all of PDM, the Election Commission and ‘namaloom afraad’,” Khan said in a tweet.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that overall, the polling process remained peaceful, and the commission’s central control room received 15 complaints of code violations.