Syed Ali Kasim Gilani beats SIC's Barrister Taimur in Multan by-poll

• Gilani defeats Barrister Taimur by 35,572 votes in by-polls.
• Constituency was vacated after Yusuf Raza Gilani's resignation.
• Total registered voters in constituency were 444,231, as per ECP.
  

MULTAN: Syed Ali Kasim Gilani, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate in the NA-148 Multan-I by-election, defeated Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Barrister Taimur Altaf Mahay with a massive margin, The News reported on Monday.

The by-polls were held on the seat vacated following the resignation of Senate Chairman Yusuf Raza Gilani.

According to unofficial and unconfirmed results, the PPP politician received 89,097 votes, while the SIC candidate got 53,572 votes in the crucial Multan contest in which Mahay lost by 35,572 votes in the by-polls held on Sunday.

The overall process of the polls was conducted in a peaceful environment with foolproof security measures in place. No untoward incident was reported, despite police declaring 69 polling stations "sensitive".

Pakistan Army and Punjab Rangers personnel continued patrolling across the sensitive polling stations all day, while CCTV cameras and walk-through gates were also installed to monitor the situation.

However, the polling staff complained about a lack of facilities such as cold water and fans at the polling stations, while poll monitoring bodies observed an extremely low turnout, largely due to scorching heat in the city.

Polling began at 8am and ended at 5pm without any interval.

In the historically-crucial constituency, which was previously labelled as NA-154 Multan-I in the 2018 election delimitations, was re-designated as NA-148 Multan-I for the February 8 elections.

The total number of registered voters in the constituency stood at 444,231, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan.

At least 2,248 polling staff were appointed at the polling stations, while 2,555 police personnel performed security duties.

Kasim's victory in the by-election has led the Gilani's to yet again create a unique political and parliamentary record with all male members of the family present in the National Assembly, Punjab Assembly and Senate.

Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, the head of the Gilani family and former prime minister, currently holds the Senate chairman office. Three of his sons have been elected for the National Assembly, while one is a member of the Punjab Assembly.

Syed Ali Musa Gilani won the general election from NA-151 Multan 4, Syed Abdul Qadir Gilani from NA-152 Multan 5, and Syed Ali Kasim Gilani from NA-148 Multan 1. Meanwhile, Syed Ali Haider Gilani was elected as MPA from PP-213 Multan-1.