Chaudhry Sultan Haider Ali of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) defeated rival candidates Tuesday to win PP-20 constituency of Chakwal-1.
Unofficial results showed Ali had won the constituency with 75,655 votes. He was followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominee Tariq Afzal, who could secure 45,702 votes.
Tehreek-e-Labaik candidate Chaudhry Nasir Abbas the second runner-up with 14, 835 votes.
According to a notification of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), at least 227 polling stations were set up for the 279,530 registered voters.
Out of 814 polling booths, five were declared highly sensitive and 45 others as sensitive.
It is pertinent to note here that the seat stood vacant after the death of PML-N’s Liaquat Ali Khan.
The Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) noted that the by-election remained peaceful but witnessed low turnout, which it said, occurred due to "electoral irregularities, procedural violations and weak enforcement".
"Despite improved election arrangements, the incidents of illegal campaigning and canvassing on the polling day were reported from one-fourth of the observed polling stations," it said in a statement.
"Moreover, critical election materials including ballot books, the Result of the Count (Form-45), the Ballot Paper Account (Form-46) and necessary legal packets were also unavailable at around 42 polling stations."
The network also reported that a majority of polling stations were not setup under the guidelines as prescribed by Section 59 of the Elections Act, 2017.
"On average, almost two violations of electoral laws, rules and codes of conduct per polling station were reported. The highest number of reported violations (74) pertained to illegal campaigning and canvassing. Parties’ camps were witnessed outside 29 polling stations within the prescribed 400 meters boundary for campaigning and canvassing while transport was being provided by candidates and parties around 28 polling stations."