The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday notified successful candidates in the recently-held by-elections on six National Assembly and seven Provincial Assembly seats. The notification of NA-96 Faisalabad has been withheld due to violation of the election code of conduct. According to the ECP, the overall voter turnout in the by-elections was 28.58 percent, while the voter turnout in NA-18 Haripur was 42.09 percent. All the six National Assembly seats were won by the ruling PML-N candidates.

Babar Nawaz Khan was declared successful from NA-18 Haripur. Muhammad Noman and Mahmood Qadir Khan were the winners from NA-127 Lahore and NA-185 Dera Ghazi Khan respectively. Muhammad Tufail won from NA-143 Sahiwal and Daniyal Ahmed from NA-104 Faisalabad. Notification of Bilal Chaudhry's victory from NA-96 Faisalabad was withheld. The ruling PML-N also won six out of seven provincial assembly seats. Azad Ali Tabassum and Ahmed Shehryar won from PP-98 and PP-116 Faisalabad constituencies respectively.

Tahir Pervez won from PP-115 Faisalabad and Muhammad Hanif won from PP-203 Sahiwal.Ali Haider Noor Niazi won from PP-87 Mianwali and Mian Sultan Ali Ranjha won from PP-73 Sargodha. PPP’s Mian Alamdar Qureshi won from PP-269 Muzaffargarh. The overall voter turnout in the by-elections was 28.58 percent. Highest voter turnout was recorded in NA-18 Haripur which was 42.09 percent.

On Monday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had withheld the victory notification of Bilal Chaudhry, the winning candidate from NA-96 Faisalabad, following allegations that his brother, Minister of State Talal Chaudhry, repeatedly violated the by-election code of ethics and failed to appear before the commission to explain his conduct. According to the ECP’s legal team, three separate complaints were filed against Talal Chaudhry for breaching the code of conduct in the NA-96 constituency.

The District Returning Officer (DRO) had issued Talal a notice on November 16, warning him and barring him from further involvement in election activities. Despite the notice, the minister continued to participate in his brother’s campaign, prompting the ECP to impose a fine of Rs50,000 on November 20 for repeated violations.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)