Lahore: Amid low turnout, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday won the NA-133 bypoll, which was contested by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), while a PTI candidate appeared in a technical test. suffered defeat. ground, show unofficial results.
According to unofficial results, PML-N’s Shaista Parvez Malik got 46,811 votes, while PPP’s Chaudhry Aslam Gill secured 32,313 ballots, which was largely peaceful except for minor clashes between activists of the two major rivals.
Although 18.59 per cent of the total 440,845 voters turned out, only 80,022 exercised their franchise. At least 898 votes were rejected.
Nine others in the competition were independents or from little-known organisations, while the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate had already been pulled out of the competition on technical grounds. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), which emerged as the third largest group in the 2018 general elections, chose to stay out of the fray in the by-elections, citing lack of preparation due to its engagement in the long march. did. On Islamabad, however, it was closed on 8 November following an agreement with the government.
Mr Gill had accumulated only 5,500 votes in the 2018 general election for the same seat that fell vacant after the death of PML-N MNA Parvez Malik, who then garnered over 90,000 votes.
Parvez Malik’s widow Shaista Malik did not personally participate in her election campaign as she was in iddat. His son, Ali Parvez Malik, who is also the MNA from the adjacent constituency, instead looked after the election campaign.
The Election Commission had set up at least 254 polling stations, of which 34 were declared sensitive and 21 as most sensitive. To counter any eventuality, the election officials had deployed over 2,000 policemen in addition to the Punjab Rangers. Voting continued non-stop from 8 am to 5 pm.
Barely two per cent votes were cast till noon and low turnout was predicted for the rest of the time.
To revitalize itself in the province, the PPP invested heavy political and financial capital in the bypolls, at least in the capital of Punjab, considered a stronghold of the rival PML-N, in a deviation from its previous practice.
President Asif Ali Zardari, despite his health issues, camped in Lahore for several days to boost the morale of party workers and help plan the election campaign strategy of Mr. Gill, a staunch lower middle-class family member. Cabinet members from the PPP-ruled province of Sindh attended round-the-clock meetings of the party candidate to send a message to local workers that the party leadership was taking the by-election very seriously.
The present and former office-bearers of Punjab also joined the election campaign if needed. Former Punjab chapter president Qamar Zaman Kaira also led a polling camp on Sunday in which chits were issued to voters with their vote numbers and respective polling stations.
Considering Mr. Gill’s financial constraints, local affluent party leaders as well as those from outside Punjab made generous donations to the PML-N and the election campaign.
This vigorous campaign paid off well for the party and increased its votes manifold, leading many to wonder whether the PPP had placed itself on a revival path in Punjab, particularly in Lahore.
was alleged and countered allegations Vote buying by the two main rivals and both had presented ‘evidence’ in the form of video clips of illegal activity to the election authority.
PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif later congratulated the party leaders on their success in NA-133. In a statement, he thanked the voters of the constituency for reposing faith in the PML-N and promised to live up to their expectations on various fronts and issues.
Congratulating Mrs. Malik, Sharif said that the voters have returned this constituency to the Malik family.
PPP Punjab chapter president Raja Pervez Ashraf had expressed hope earlier in the day that the party would win the seat despite the low turnout. A Sindh minister accompanying Mr Ashraf, however, noted that some women voters were coming out of their homes to exercise their right to vote. Women’s wing leader and former MNA Samina Khalid Ghurki believed that it was because of the wedding season, as many women were preparing to attend weddings, which were mostly held on weekly holidays, instead of casting their votes. Used to go A youth dressed as a traditional groom also cast his vote at a polling booth in Jauhar Town. Mian Mudasir said that their procession was about a holiday for the bride’s house when they decided to cast their vote first.
The former president later congratulated Mr. Ashraf over the phone for increasing the number of PPP votes by more than six times in the by-elections. The by-election proved to be a turning point for the party, he said, calling it a rebirth of the party in Lahore that would bring a change in Punjab.
Published in Dawn, December 6, 2021