By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz captured nearly all the seats in by-elections held across 13 constituencies in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to unofficial results released early Monday, bolstering its position in the national assembly despite a boycott by the main opposition and widespread reports of sluggish voter participation.
The victories, which included five national assembly seats and six provincial assembly seats in Punjab, came after polls closed on Sunday in response to the disqualification of lawmakers from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party following their convictions in violence cases stemming from May 9 unrest.
The Pakistan Peoples Party secured the lone exception, winning a provincial seat in Muzaffargarh, while results in three other constituencies, two in Faisalabad and one in Haripur, showed the PML-N leading as final tallies remained pending. The PTI largely abstained from the contests except in two national assembly seats in Lahore and Haripur. The PML-N fielded candidates in all but the Muzaffargarh race, where the PPP’s Alamdar Qureshi prevailed.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, speaking to journalists in Islamabad on Sunday evening, expressed confidence in his party’s performance, pointing to what he described as “robust turnout” in key areas. “The PML-N candidate enjoyed a strong position in Lahore, with party teams actively involved throughout the polling process,” Tarar said. “Voter turnout for the party had been highly encouraging across Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan.”
He added that the PTI’s boycott would carry “political repercussions,” asserting, “political boycotts carry inevitable cost as there is no room for such decisions in democratic practice.” “In Lahore, unusually large crowds gathered at polling camps, while Dera Ghazi Khan reported a steady flow of voters throughout the day. Elderly citizens, young people and women turned out in significant numbers, reflecting broad public participation in the electoral process.”
Yet observations on the ground painted a contrasting picture of disinterest. In Faisalabad’s NA-96 constituency, one polling station reported no voters for hours after opening, prompting announcements over mosque loudspeakers urging residents to vote as a “national duty.” Similar pleas echoed in Sahiwal. A video of Faisalabad’s city police officer, Bilal Omer, visiting stations showed venues filled more with security personnel than electors. In PP-98, workers at camps for PML-N candidate Azad Ali Tabassum and independents reported “almost no voters” around midday.
Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, monitoring from Islamabad, attributed the low turnout to the elections’ limited stakes. “This election was not supposed to change the numbers game in parliament,” he told reporters. “This is the reason why the turnout was low in today’s elections.” He praised the peaceful conduct and thanked provincial governments for their cooperation.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Tufail Jutt on social media even before the official announcement, stating, “Undoubtedly, with the victory in NA-143, the public has expressed its trust in the spirit of public service of the PML-N.” He extended similar praise to winners in Lahore and Sahiwal provincial races.
Allegations of irregularities surfaced from the PTI. Hammad Azhar, a senior PTI leader posted on X about discrepancies in NA-129 ballot books, sharing a Form-36 where a presiding officer altered the count from 18 to 15 for a station with 1,716 voters. An ECP official called it a “typographic error,” noting the serial numbers confirmed 15 books. Punjab Assembly opposition leader Moeen Riaz Qureshi claimed authorities removed “almost 99 percent” of PTI camps in Lahore and mis distributed polling lists, sending voters astray. The party also reported injuries to members, including Mian Hassan Shakeel, in clashes with PML-N workers at an NA-129 station.
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