PML-N candidate retakes Vehari seat

He had earlier been de-seated by the Supreme Court

MULTAN: Chaudhry Muhammad Yousaf Kasalia of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz regained his seat in the by-election in PP-232, Vehari district, on Wednesday defeating Ayesha Nazir Jutt of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf with a close margin. Eleven candidates had contested the election.

The Supreme Court had, earlier, de-seated Kasalia for hiding his assets. Polling opened at around 8am and ended at 5pm. The total number of voters was 191,092 – 109,181 men and 81,911 women. There were 157 polling stations in the district, 46 of them for men only and 45 for women. The district administration had declared 31 polling stations highly sensitive and 48 polling stations sensitive. The constituency comprises mostly rural areas.

After casting her vote at polling station 239-EB, Jutt spoke to journalists and accused the PML-N of using state machinery to support their candidate.

Jutt was supported by the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad.  The other candidates were Chaudhry Aslam Shaukat Kasalia, Chaudhry Tahir Naqaash Jutt, Chaudhry Abid Kasalia, Chaudhry Abdul Saboor, Chaudhry Ghulam Mustafa, Advocate Muhammad Rafiq Nizami, Mirza Mehboob Rabbani, Malik Rashid Faraz Awan and Nazir Ahmad Basit.

At polling station 181-EB, Union Council Chairman Malik Iftikhar and some of his supporters had beaten up Mirza Mehboob Rabbani, one of the candidates in the election. Rabbani was later taken to a hospital for treatment. Following the incident, the police inspector general told Multan RPO Sultan Azam Taimoori to visit Vehari and control the situation.

At polling station 40, police arrested a man who had 31 bullets, a rifle and 40 cartridges. At polling station 239-EB, polling was suspended after a policeman got into a scuffle with a polling agent.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2016.