Karachi (Web Desk): Qadir Khan Mandokhel of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won in the by-elections at National Assembly constituency, NA-249 Karachi West-II.
As per the unofficial results, PPP candidate Qadir Khan Mandokhel secured 16,156 votes, while Miftah Ismail of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) bagged 15,473 votes.
Surprisingly, Nazir Ahmed, the candidate of recently proscribed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) stood third as he secured 11,125 votes.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) candidate Mustafa Kamal could acquire only 9,227 votes, followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Amjad Afridi with 8,922 votes and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Muhammad Mursaleen with 7,511 votes.
The voter turnout remained 21.64 per cent in the constituency and the total votes cast were 73,471 out of 339,591 votes registered in the area.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had made all necessary arrangements to hold the elections in peaceful manner. The polling started at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break.
The voting was held in a peaceful manner except for a minor clash between supporters of the TLP and the PTI workers.
The NA-249 Karachi West-II constituency fell vacant after PTI’s Faisal Vawda resigned from the seat to become a senator.
Vawda had defeated PML-N’s Shehbaz Sharif during the 2018 General Election.
On the other hand, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz alleged that by-election in NA-249 was stolen from her party by only a few hundred votes.
In a post on Twitter, she demanded that the ECP must withhold the results of one of the most disputed and controversial elections.
“Even if it doesn’t, this victory will be temporary and will Insha’Allah come back to PML-N soon,” the PML-N leader added.