LAHORE (Staff Report) – Former speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadi has retained NA-122 seat while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Shoaib Siddiqui clinched victory in PP-147 by-polls in a daylong polling in Lahore on Sunday.
Related: Maryam Nawaz chants “DEKHO DEKHO KON AAYA” as PML-N candidate takes lead in NA-122 by-polls
According tounofficial results PML-N candidate Sardar Ayaz Sadiq bagged 76204 votes while PTI candidate Abdul Aleem Khan got 72043 votes in total 284 polling stations.
Related: Ayaz Sadiq thanks voters for support in NA-122 by-polls
Meanwhile PTI candidate Shoaib Siddiqui has received 31993 votes and PML-N’s Mohsin Latif bagged 28641 votes in total 117 polling station.
Related: PTI’s Aleem Khan thanks NA-122 voters
The PPP contestant in NA-122, Amir Hasan, could manage 1683 votes only. The ECP has confiscated his surety bond submitted for the by-polls.
Related: Read polling results of NA-144 by-polls here
As many as 20 candidates have been in the run for NA-122 by-election however the main contest remained between PML-N candidate Ayaz Sadiq and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul Aleem Khan.
Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Barrister Mian Amir Hassan and Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) were other prominent candidates for the National Assembly seat.
Number of total registered voters in the constituency is over 347,762, out of which 190,328 are male and 157,434 female voters. The ECP constituted as many 284 polling stations for balloting, out of which 180 were declared sensitive. The constituency was further divided into 673 polling booths for male and female voters separately.
On the other hand, as many as 11 candidates have been participating in PP-147 Lahore by-election including PML-N’s Mohsin Latif, Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui of PTI, Advocate Iftikhar Shahid of PPP and Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT) Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry, who is also the party candidate for NA-122.
Total number of registered voters in PP-147 is over 140,767, out of which 77,729 are male and 63,038 are female voters. The ECP had set up 117 polling stations for the by-poll.
The seats went vacant on August 22 this year following the verdict of an election tribunal against former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Mohsin Latif of PML-N, declaring the 2013 poll results null and void. The tribunal ordered Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold by-elections in both NA-122 and PP-144.
Daylong polling in NA-122, PP-147 and NA-144 by-elections
The polling for the by-elections at the NA-122, and PP-147, Lahore and NA-144 Okara has begun at 8 am and will continue till 5pm here on Sunday.
Polling will continue till 5:00PM without any break. PML-N Ayyaz Sadiq cast his vote in Gahi Shahu polling station. On the other hand, PTI’s Aleem Khan went to Data Darbar and prayed for his victory.
The key battle is taking place in Lahore, traditionally considered the epicenter of the country’s politics.
By-elections are underway in National Assembly’s NA-122 and provincial assembly’s PP-147 in the Punjab capital. By-poll for NA-144, Okara are also take underway.
Read more: Section 144 imposed in Lahore ahead of by-elections
A close fight is expected between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Strict security arrangements have been made for the by-polls as Pakistan Army personnel alongside police are deployed at sensitive polling stations to avoid any untoward incidents.
Electoral material has already been handed over to the polling staff under the Army supervision.
Here’s the look at the two Lahore constituencies:
The seat fell vacant on August 22 this year following the verdict of an election tribunal against former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N, declaring the 2013 poll results null and void.
Although almost 20 candidates are contesting by-election, the main competition is likely to take place between Sadiq and Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Aleem Khan.
Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Barrister Mian Amir Hassan and Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) are other prominent candidates for the National Assembly seat.
Number of total registered voters in the constituency is over 347,762, out of which 190,328 are male and 157,434 female voters.
180 out of total 284 polling stations have declared sensitive. 673 polling both have been set up for male and female voters separately.
PML-N’s Sardar Ayaz Sadiq succeeded in securing 93,389 votes in the 2013 general election. His closest rival was PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who managed to bag 84,517 votes.
Expressing dissatisfaction on the results, Khan had been demanding an audit of the poll right from the day one.
PPPP’s Amir Hassan could only manage to grab 2,833 votes in the 2013 polls.
In NA-144 Okara, five candidates are contesting including Ali Arif Chaudhry of PML(N) and Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna of PTI.
The Punjab Assembly seat fell vacant following the verdict of an election tribunal earlier this year, which declared the 2013 poll results null and void.
About 11 candidates are partaking in Sunday’s by-election including PML-N’s Mohsin Latif, Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui of PTI, Advocate Iftikhar Shahid of PPP and Pakistan Awami Tehreek’s (PAT) Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry, who is also the party candidate for NA-122.
Candidates of PML-N, PTI and PPP also came face to face in the 2013 election as Mohsin Latif of PML-N came out victorious with 36,781 votes back then.
Siddiqui of PTI came second with 30,174 votes while PPPP’s Advocate Shahid could secure 1,873 votes only.
Total number of registered voters in the provincial constituency is over 140,767, out of which 77,729 are male and 63,038 are female voters.
Several polling stations of the total 111 have been declared sensitive for today’s by-poll.
