Unofficial results: PML-N candidate wins Jhelum by-polls

Raja Matlob Mehdi bags 82,886 votes; turnout remains 30%.

JHELUM: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate Raja Matlob Mehdi clinched the National Assembly seat in the by-elections at Jhelum’s NA-63 constituency on Wednesday.

According to unofficial results, Mehdi bagged 82,886 votes while the runner-up candidate from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Chaudhry Fawad Khan, received 74, 819 votes. The seat had fallen vacant after Mehdi’s father, Iqbal Mehdi, also a PML-N lawmaker, passed away in May this year.

The by-elections, held under the supervision of Pakistan Army, were largely peaceful, except for a firing incident which took place after announcement of unofficial results. In the said incident, a PML-N leader Aslam Khokhar sustained injuries.

The turnout at the by-polls, however, remained as low as 30%. Many people claimed that the low turnout was due to the strict surveillance of the army troops, who also did not allow media and observers to enter the polling stations.

In a constituency of over 427, 000 registered voters, 39 polling stations were put in ‘A’ type, 31 in ‘B’ type and 244 in ‘C’ type. The by-poll was boycotted by people of union council Gangwal.

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