PTI leads in NA-247, PS-111, loses PK-71 to ANP in by-elections

KARACHI - Unofficial and initial results show that PTI candidate Aftab Hussain Siddiqui leads with 30, 468 votes against MQM’s Sadiq Iftikhar who has bagged 13, 478 votes in NA-247, Karachi. Qaisar Nazamani of PPP is third with 11, 069 votes.

In PK-71, ANP candidate Salahuddin has emerged victor by getting 11, 257 votes against PTI's Zulfiqar Khan who secured 9854 votes, according to results obtained from all 86 polling stations.

The seat was vacated by Shah Farman after his appointment as Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In PS-111, Shehzad Qureshi of PTI is ahead with 10,406 votes against PPP's Muhammad Fiaz who has obtained 3761 votes.

Vote count got underway after daylong polling for by-polls on National Assembly seat NA-247, Sindh Assembly seat PS-111 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat PK-71.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finalised all necessary arrangements for the by-elections to be held in a peaceful manner.

National Assembly seat NA-247, Sindh Assembly seat PS-111 and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seat PK-71 were vacated after the winning candidates chose other positions.

NA-247 was vacated by President Dr Arif Alvi while PS-111 was vacated by Sindh Governor Imran Ismail.

Meanwhile, the PK-71 fell vacant after Shah Farman was appointed as Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Voting started at 8:am and continued till 5:pm under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan and army personnel.

According to ECP, there are 546,451 registered voters in NA-247 and 178,965 registered voters in PS-111.

Twelve candidates are in the run for the NA-247 seat while 11 are contesting for the Sindh Assembly seat.

Prominent candidates in the run for NA-247 include PTI’s Aftab Hussain Siddiqui, PSP’s Arshad Vohra, MQM-P’s Sadiq Iftikhar and PPP’s Qaiser Khan Nizamani while PTI’s Shehzad Qureshi, MQM-P’s Jehanzeb Mughal, PML-N’s Mohammad Zahid Hussain and activist Muhammad Jibran Nasir are among those in the run for PS-111.

PTI's Zulfiqar Khan, Awami National Party candidate Salahuddin, and independent candidates Dildar Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, and Fazale Haq Kohi Damani are contesting for the PK-71 by-election.