KARACHI: In an upset for the ruling PTI, its candidate Ali Asjad Malhi lost the hotly-contested NA-75 seat to PML-N’s Nosheen Iftikhar on Saturday.
The by election in the Sialkot constituency had gained national importance after a by-poll in the same constituency on February 19 this year was declared void by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) due to multiple incidents of violence and serious irregularities.
Following controversy, the ECP had ordered a re-election in NA-75. The PTI candidate had, however, challenged the ECP order in the Supreme Court, but the petition was dismissed on April 2 and the apex court ordered that the poll be held on April 10 as per schedule.
According to provisional and unofficial results from all 360 polling stations, announced after midnight, at around 12:30am on Sunday, Iftikhar managed to secure 110,075 votes, whereas Malhi received 93,433.
The finally tally means the PML-N won by a margin of 16,642 votes.
Voter turn out remained a disappointing 43.33%. Among men, the turnout was 45.1%, while turnout among women was slightly lower at 41.2%.
In total, 214,063 votes were cast in the by election, out of a total voter base of 494,003.
Of the total votes cast, 1,702 were rejected as invalid.