­TOBA TEK SINGH  -  Returning Officer of PP-123 Shahwar Amin Wahga has declared PML-N candidate Pir Qutab Ali Baba as the winner. According to form 49 issued by the RO, Pir Qutab Ali Baba secured 53122 and defeated Sonia Ali Raza who got 53105 votes. Pir Qutab won the seat by 17 votes.

Earlier, PML-N candidate for PP-123 Pir Qutab Ali Baba claimed that he had won the provincial assembly seat with the lead of 19 after vote recount ordered by the Lahore High Court [LHC].

Addressing a press conference, he stated that his opponent, PTI ticket holder Sonia Ali Raza, was declared winner with the lead of only 70 votes and he had filed a petition at the LHC for recounting. He added that LHC judge Justice Shahid Karim had ordered recounting of the votes. He said, recounting continued and not only Sonia's 70 votes lead ended in recounting of just 21 polling stations out of total 209 polling stations, but he also won with 19 votes. So, he requested RO Shahwar Amin Wahga to stop the recounting as it was being held on his petition and he had right to get it stop.

He added that the RO would submit his report to the LHC and soon notification of his win would be issued by the ECP. He said that the intra LHC appeal of Sonia against the LHC order of recounting had also been rejected on Wednesday. He also claimed that this was rigging made by his opponent candidate which turned his win into defeat; otherwise, he had won the seat. On the other hand, Sonia Ali Raza claimed that the RO was a disciple of the shrine of an elder of Pir Qutab Ali Baba. So, he opened bags and double-stamped her votes to get them rejected and to get Pir Qutab Ali Baba win. She added that she had already complained to the ECP and had requested to stop the recounting but the ECP did nothing in this regard.

Meanwhile, recounting of NA-112 votes was started on Thursday on the LHC orders. RO Naeem Amer had issued notices to all candidates including PML-N MNA-elect Junaid Anwar Ch for Thursday to be present when recounting of the constituency would start in his office at 9am. But it delayed and started at 2pm. Defeated PTI ticket holder Ch M Ashfaq had filed a petition in the LHC and Justice Shahid Karim had ordered recounting.