Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi wins PP-78 Jhang by-election

JHANG - According to unofficial results, independent candidate Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi has won PP-78 by-election 2016.

An unconfirmed result of all polling stations shows Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi scored 48562 votes, while his opponent PML-N's candidate Haji Azad Nasar Ansari could only manage to bag 35469 votes.

Moulana Masroor Nawaz was being supported by the banned Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ).

Over 25 candidates including Moulana Masroor Nawaz (Independent), Haji Azad Naser Ansari (PML-N) Shaikh Arfa Majeed (PTI) and Nasim Qadri (PAT) were contesting the elections.

The polling started at around 8:30 am and continued till 5 PM without any pause. The Jhang police have declared all 171 polling stations of the constituency as sensitive out of which 17 have been termed as very sensitive.

Although 25 candidates are in the run for PP-78 but a cut throat competition was expected between Ahmad Ludhianvi of ASWJ and PML-N's Haji Azad Nasar Ansari; however, the ASWJ chief withdrew from PP-78 by-election paving way for Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, an independent candidate.

Another interesting thing about Jhang by-election is a transgender candidate, Madam Boota, who also enjoys good reputation among locals.

A total number of registered voters in the constituency is 2,06,562 which include 1,08,627 male voters and 97,935 female voters.

The Punjab Assembly’s constituency had fallen vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified Rashida Yaqoob of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) for concealing assets.

She was elected to the assembly in the 2013 general elections and runner-up candidate Mr Ludhianvi had challenged her election.

Then the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that it would hold by-poll in the constituency on Dec 1 for which Mr Ludhianvi, as well as Ms Yaqoob, also filed their nomination papers but Lahore High Court barred Ludhianvi from contesting the by-election.

However, the LHC had later allowed ASWJ chief to contest by-polls.

On the directions of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the authorities have declared Thursday a public holiday throughout the district on the occasion of the by-polls in PP-78.