Maulana Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, a son of Haq Nawaz Jhangnvi of the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), has won the by-elections of the PP-78 constituency in Jhang, Waqt News reported Thursday.

According to unofficial results, Jhangvi bagged the most votes - almost 47,000 - defeating rival candidates by a wide margin.

Surprisingly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Azad Nasir Ansari, who was being tipped to win the provincial assembly seat, stood second with 35,468 votes.

The Punjab Assembly’s constituency had fallen vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified Rashida Yaqoob of the PML-N for concealing assets while upholding a decision of an election tribunal in October.

She was elected to the assembly in the 2013 general elections and runner-up candidate 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 Ludhianvi as well as Yaqoob also filed their nomination papers. However, this time Yaqoob was an independent candidate.