LAHORE: PML-N candidate Sardar Ayaz Sadiq yesterday defeated the PTI contender Aleem Khan in the neck-to-neck race for by-election of NA-122, according to unofficial results. At the same time Imran Khan’s party defeated the ruling party’s candidate in the by-poll for PP-147. Shoaib Siddiqui of PTI defeated PML-N’s Mohsin Latif in another close contest. According to reported unofficial results, Ayaz Sadiq defeated Aleem Khan by a margin of 4161 votes. Sadiq secured 76204 ballots while Aleem bagged 72043.

Similarly, Shoaib Siddiqui defeated Mohsin Latif by 3352 votes. Siddiqui bagged 31993 ballots while Latif secured 28641 votes. Analysts believe that the PTI might have secured NA-122 if Imran Khan was in Lahore to maintain the momentum of the by-election. The NA-122 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. More than 20 candidates were in the run for this seat but the main contestants were candidates of PML-N and PTI. PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq succeeded in securing 93389 votes in the 2013 general election. His closest rival was PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who managed to bag 84517 votes. This time the margin of victory was much lower than the 2013 election.

Though there were around 10 contenders in this constituency, the PML-N’s Mohsin Latif, and PTI’s Muhammad Shoaib Siddiqui were focal contestants. Both candidates faced each other in 2013 elections. The number of total registered voters in the constituency is over 347,762, out of which 190,328 are male and 157,434 female. The polling for by-elections in NA-122 and PP-147 by and large remained peaceful with security command under Pak Army. Minor scuffles took place in Samanabad, Ichhra and Garhi Shahu but no serious incident occurred in the two constituencies. The enthusiasm on part of both the parties remained high in the politically charged city of Lahore. The ruling party specially focused its weak areas in Samanabad, Ichhra, Shadman, Rehmanpura, Baja Lines, Mian Mir Colony, parts of Dharampura and Upper Mall.

The PML-N managers of the by-election in the two constituencies kept on transporting their voters to the polling stations in the first half of the polling day. Most of the PTI voters came to use their right of franchise on their own and small numbers of their voters were transported through transport arranged by the election managers. Major chunk of PTI votes came from women, while young and new voters also voted for Imran Khan. The overall pace of the polling remained slow during 8:00am to 1:00pm and gained momentum afterwards. The number of PTI women voters remained high in the polling stations of these areas.

Control rooms were established at the Provincial Election Commission of Punjab and Election Commission of Pakistan to monitor polling process through CCTVs installed at the polling stations linked with the control rooms. An election official told The Nation that one copy of CD of recordings will be with the election authority while the other copy would be kept by the army for ensuring that no party could beat the trumpet of rigging. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Ayaz Sadiq on his success.

He said, “The victory of Ayaz Sadiq is victory of politics of public service and defeat of people who tried to buy conscious people of Lahore.” He added that conscious people had buried politics of lies, allegations and hypocrisy. The Chief Minister said that politics of stubbornness and those creating hurdles in the journey to development was defeated. Shahbaz added that people had rejected the land grabbing mafia and defaulters. Addressing the workers, Hamza Shahbaz said, “Chairman of a political party lost by-election and a worker of a political party won.” He added Imran Khan should now focus on development and progress of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PTI central organiser Jahangir Khan Tareen in a late-night press conference said, “The victory in PP-147 established the fact that Lahore is no more the citadel of the PML-N. Tough contest in NA-122 gave Imran’s supporters a moral victory as our candidate lost only by around 4000 votes.” “PTI will grab other seats of Lahore in the next general elections and the party is ready for the upcoming local bodies’ elections. It is a major victory for me that two of the MPAs fall under NA-122 constituency belong to the PTI,” he added. Tareen said that his party would see into the matter of shifting of votes of NA-122 to other areas.

Riazul Haq Jajj, an independent candidate, has won NA-144 by-election by securing 83,240 votes. According to unofficial results, the PML-N candidate Arif Ali Chaudhry bagged 41,050 votes while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf candidate Ashraf Sohna gained about 7,000 votes. The counting of all 210 polling stations of NA-144 has been completed.