Awais Leghari wins NA-172 by-election

ISLAMABAD - The much awaited by-polls in National Assemblys constituency NA-172 Dera Ghazi Khan-II finally went in favour of Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam) candidate Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari who had outclassed his two powerful rivals with a wide margin, according to unofficial reports. Till late night on Tuesday, the vote counting in the 226 polling stations of the total 260 stations indicated that the PML-Q contestant had grabbed 52,446 votes followed by Hafiz Abdul Karim of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) with 35,124 votes and Sardar Shabbir Leghari from Pakistan Peoples party who got 15,200. The unconfirmed results from the remaining 34 polling stations also indicated that Awais Leghari was leading the tables with over 56,000 votes. The results of NA-172 DG Khan by-polls suggest that this is the third time a govt candidate has met defeat at the hands of Opposition party candidates. A few days back, the JUI-F candidate Ghulam Qadir Bhittani had defeated Dawar Khan Kundi, the joint contestant of PPP and ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblys by-polls held in PK-69 Tank. Earlier in January, the joint candidate of both these parties Diyar Khan met the same fate after being defeated by Muhammad Rashid of PML-Q in KP Assemblys by-polls held in PK-87 Shangla. Despite that the Federal and Punjab governments used their all out influence to grab the NA-172 seat that fell vacant after the death of Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, father of Awais Legahri, it was reportedly due to the effective measures adopted by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that the by-polls were generally held transparently. The alleged highhandedness of the PPP and PML-N workers to manoeuvre the results of the by-polls remained the order of the day in DG Khan by-elections. The PML-N activists had allegedly shown blatant disregard to the ECP on several occasions and resorted to firing at some polling stations located in rural tribal belt. At the Jamna Chaadia polling station, the PML-N and PML-Q candidates had entered into an armed clash leaving several injured. At another tribal polling station in Thatha Gabol, the PML-N activists were accused of hiding the votes that were cast in favour of Awais Leghari. The vehicle of PML-N candidate Hafiz Abdul Karim was pelted with stones that damaged it. No serious injuries were reported during the by-polls. Firing incidents were reported at polling stations number 137 and 254 while the PML-N activists at station number 3 had allegedly 'stolen two ballot boxes that were later recovered from their possession. The by-polls in NA-172 DG Khan were postponed for four times that had triggered the criticism from Opposition parties candidates. Awais Leghari and Hafiz Abdul Karim had alleged that the ECP was delaying the by-polls on government pressure in order to get more time for the PPP candidate to buy maximum votes. The PML-Q contestant had accused the Punjab and Federal governments of foul play to back the respective PPP and PML-N candidates. Earlier this month, the by-polls were postponed twice in 48 hours.