NA-154 contest: PML-N shocks PTI with by-poll victory
- By Web Desk -
- Feb 12, 2018
LODHRAN: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged victorious in a by-election held on a National Assembly seat (NA-154) in Punjab’s Lodhran district on Monday, unofficial and provisional results show.
According to unofficial results from all 338 polling stations, PML-N’s Peer Iqbal Shah secured 1,16, 950 votes as compared to the runner-up, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Ali Tareen who bagged 91, 230 votes.
The NA seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court disqualified the PTI leader under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution on December 15, 2017.
He was de-seated for deliberately submitting a false statement in the Supreme Court to conceal his property in the United Kingdom.
As many as 10 candidates were in the run for the NA seat.
According to the ECP, 328 polling stations had been set up in the constituency for 431,002 registered voters.
As many as 338 presiding officers and 1,043 assistant presiding officers performed duties on 1,043 polling booths.
In the 2015 by-polls, Jahangir Tareen had won the seat after defeating the PML-N’s Siddiqui Baloch with a margin of more than 35, 000 votes.
The Supreme Court had ordered re-election in the constituency after it found irregularities in 2013 elections.
The by-election was being seen as a litmus test for PTI’s strength in Punjab ahead of this year’s general elections but the party lost the seat considered its stronghold.
The result was welcomed by PML-N leaders who termed it as an end which those “cursing parliament” deserved.
“People vote for lions not pawns,” PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted.
اور نواز شریف پھر جیت گیا ۔۔۔۔
الحمدُ للّٰہ !
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 12, 2018
پارلیمنٹ اور ووٹ پر لعنت بھیجنے والوں کا انجام ۔۔۔۔ توبہ !
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 12, 2018
پاکستان کے عوام کے شعور سے مت کھیلنا۔ وہ مہروں کو نھیں، شیروں اور دلیروں کو ووٹ دیتے ہیں۔ جو جبر کے سامنے سینہ تان کر کھڑے ہوتے ہیں۔
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) February 12, 2018
Thank you Lodhran for your trust in the leadership of PMLN… It’s your victory… And we will continue to serve you… Congratulations to all the PMLN workers and our victorious candidate Iqbal Shah sb.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) February 12, 2018
Voters in have Lodhran have spoken. People of Pakistan will reject politics of dharna & vote for politics of development & Rising PakistanIA
— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) February 12, 2018