Counting of votes in the hotly-contested by-election on 20 constituencies of Punjab is underway and unofficial, preliminary results are trickling in.
Today’s polls remained largely peaceful aside from a few reports of clashes between supporters of opposing parties. No casualties were reported.
Other kinds of drama, however, stole the limelight. This included an early morning resignation, a leaked audio allegedly implicating the former interior minister, and a number of arrests, including that of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill.
Voter turnout was not as large as the parties hoped but was considerable, said by Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah to be 40%.
A breakdown of the latest unofficial, preliminary results is given below as they come in:
6:17pm — PP-170 Lahore, polling station 22: PML-N in the lead
PML-N’s Amin Zulqarnain is in the lead with 134 votes, while PTI’s Zaheer Abbas is in second place with 66 votes.
6:22pm — PP-273 Muzaffargarh VI, polling station 3: PML-N in the lead
PML-N’s Muhammad Sibtain Raza is in the lead with 621 votes, while PTI’s Yasir Arfat is in second place with 435 votes.
6:26pm — PP-125 Jhang II, result from three polling stations: PTI in the lead
PTI’s Mian Muhammad Azam is in the lead with 789 votes, while PML-N’s Faisal Hayat is in second place with 285 votes.
6:39pm — PP-273 Muzaffargarh VI, result from five polling stations: PTI in the lead
PTI’s Yasir Arfat is in the lead with 1,442 votes, while PML-N’s Muhammad Sibtain Raza is in second place with 1,376 votes.
6:45pm — PP-97 Faisalabad I, result from seven polling stations: PTI in the lead
PTI’s Ali Afzal Sahi is in the lead with 1,780 votes, while PML-N’s Muhammad Ajmal is in second place with 1,544 votes.
