PMLN Ayaz Sadiq reclaims NA-122

PMLN reclaims NA 122 – Maintaining his winning streak, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PMLN) Sardar Ayaz Sadiq Sunday defeated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Abdul Aleem Khan by a very close margin in NA-122 (Lahore) by-election, Samaa reported.

Unofficial results say Ayaz Sadiq got away with 74525 while Aleem Khan drew in 72082 votes from 284 polling stations.

The good news for PTI is that its candidate Shoaib Siddiqui secured PP-147 by-poll with 31964 votes.

Siddiqui earned 31993 votes while PMLN’s Mohsin Latif clutched 28402 after a day’s polling at 117 stations.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate in NA-122, Barrister Mian Amir Hassan, could not attract more than 1683 votes. The ECP has confiscated his election deposit.

There in Okra, independent  candidate Riazul Haq Jajj won NA-144 by-election by securing 83,240  votes.

According to unofficial results, the PMLN candidate Arif Ali Chaudhry grabbed 41,050 votes while PTI’s Ashraf Sohna got only 7180  votes.

The counting of all 210 polling stations of NA-144 has  been completed.

As many as 20 candidates have been in the run for NA-122 by-election however the Wada Muqabala (the main contest) was between Ayaz Sadiq and Aleem Khan.

Among others, PPP 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 took part 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 fell 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 PMLN, 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.

Voting ended at 5 pm on Sunday as seats in NA-122, PP-147 constituencies, and NA-144 (Okara) were up for grabs. The biggest contest, however, was for NA-122 which pit the ruling PML-N against Imran Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), as Ayaz Sadiq faced off against Aleem Khan.

According to the final (unofficial) results, Sadiq, the former National Assembly Speaker, has edged out Khan bagging around 75,000 votes against the PTI candidate’s 71,000. Sadiq has now reclaimed his National Assembly seat after having his membership overturned in August over rigging charges in the 2013 general elections.

In the provincial assembly constituency, PP-147, Shoaib Siddiqui won after beating PML-N’s Mohsin Latif. In NA-144 Riazul Haq Juj, who is an independent candidate, was victorious with around 63,000 votes according to unofficial results. PML-N’s Ali Arif Chaudhry was the runner-up with 36,000 votes.

The final, official results for all constituencies will be announced on Monday ( today )