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The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Sunday secured 15 of 20 seats in by-elections for the Punjab Assembly—according to unofficial results—against rival Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)’s 4, paving the way for it to elect the next chief minister of the province.
The 20 seats being contested had fallen vacant after the disqualification of PTI lawmakers who had voted against party instructions in the election for chief minister, resulting in the PMLN’s Hamza Shehbaz being voted into power. The Supreme Court has already ruled that a fresh round of polling must take place on July 22 (Friday), though the process appears to be a mere formality, as the PMLQ and PTI now jointly have 188 lawmakers; a chief minister needs to secure 186 votes in the House to be elected to power.
According to the unofficial results, the PTI won the polls in PP-217 (Multan VII); PP-288 (Dera Ghazi Khan IV); PP-202 (Sahiwal VII); PP-83 (Khushab II); PP-140 (Sheikhupura VI); PP-282 (Layyah III); PP-224 (Lodhran I); PP-158 (Lahore XV); PP-167 (Lahore XXIV); PP-170 (Lahore XXVII); PP-97 (Faisalabad I); PP-90 (Bhakkar II); PP-127 (Jhang IV); PP-224 (Lodhran I) and PP-272 (Muzaffargarh V).
The PMLN, meanwhile, won the polls in PP-168 (Lahore XXV); PP-237 (Bahawalnagar I); PP-273 (Muzaffargarh VI); and PP-7 (Rawalpindi II). The last seat, PP-228 (Lodhran V) went to an independent candidate.
Hailing the victory, PTI Chairman Imran Khan thanked PTI workers and the voters of Punjab in a posting on Twitter, claiming they had not only defeated the PMLN candidates but also “the entire state machinery, especially harassment by police and a totally biased Election Commission of Pakistan.” He also thanked the PTI’s allies, the PMLQ and the rightwing Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen and Sunni Ittehad Council. “The only way forward from here is to hold fair and free elections under a credible ECP,” he continued. “Any other path will only lead to greater political uncertainty and further economic chaos,” he added.
PMLN Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, also on Twitter, said her party should accept the loss with an open heart and bow before the people’s will. Stressing that winning and losing is a part of politics, she advised the party to use this opportunity to identify its weaknesses and work hard to overcome them in future.
Despite a few sporadic clashes, the polls were largely held in a peaceful manner with no viable allegations of rigging from any party—despite Khan’s repeated targeting of the ECP.
Following the vote, the new party standing in the Punjab Assembly has significantly tilted in favor of the PTI. With its 15 new seats, the PTI and PMLQ coalition now has 188 MPAs against the PMLN, PPP and Rah-e-Haq party’s 175. There are also 6 independent candidates. The PTI has already announced it would field PMLQ’s Pervaiz Elahi as its candidate for the chief minister, though it is unclear if the party intends to dissolve the Punjab Assembly in a bid to force early general elections or continue in power, as it has done in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.