PML-N wins epic Lahore battle, independent candidate takes Okara

LAHORE: Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of the Pakistan Muslim League-N has won the NA-122 seat by defeating the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Aleem Khan by a close margin in the by-elections, according to official results announced by the Returning Officer here on Monday.

According to official results announced by the Returning Officer, former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq regained the seat by a margin of just under 2,500 votes – receiving 74,525 votes as compared to 72,082 votes received by PTI candidate Aleem Khan.

However, in the PP-147 by-polls, the PTI managed to salvage some pride as its candidate Shoaib Siddiqui bagged victory against the PML-N’s Mohsin Latif.

PTI’s winning candidate on PP-147 Shoaib Siddiqui secured 31,964 votes while PML-N’s Mohsin Latif got 28,402 votes in the PP-147 by-polls, said the Returning Officer.

Turnout was 43 percent and 44 percent in the NA-122 and PP-147 constituencies respectively, said the Returning Officer.

Meanwhile, in NA-144 (Okara-II), an independent candidate Riazul Haq Juj won the by-polls by defeating the PML-N’s candidate Ali Arif with a huge margin, according to official results announced this moring.

Riazul Haq bagged 85,714 votes, while his main opponent got only 45,199 votes, said the Returning Officer in the constituency while announcing the results this morning.

The NA-144 seat was declared vacant after the PML-N’s Arif Chaudhry was disqualified by an election tribunal. Five candidates were in the run for this seat including Ali Arif Chaudhry, Muhammad Ashraf Sohna, Sajjadul Hasan, winner Riazul Haq Juj and Mehr Abdul Sattar.

On the other hand, PP-147 is the only seat in Lahore where the PML-N has suffered a defeat for the second time in the last 12 years in the by-polls.

The last time the PML-N lost this seat was in early 2003 after it was vacated by Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. In the 2002 general elections, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq vacated this seat after retaining the National Assembly seat and the PML-N, which was facing troubled times, had limited options for the by-polls.

An interesting thing related to the victory of Shoaib Siddiqui is his second victory in the by-polls. Last time, he won the election in 2006 on the PML-Q ticket.