PTI tightens grip on power with 120 NA seats

Imran stands victorious at all five constituencies; Shehbaz, Bilawal face defeat at the hands of PTI contestants

ISLAMABAD : While the country still awaits the official, final results of Wednesday’s general election, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is leading on 120 National Assembly seats. It is also in a position to form governments in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa besides making inroads in Sindh.

According to unofficial results for the National Assembly, the PTI has won 120 seats, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 63 seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with 44 seats and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) with 12 seats.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has won six seats; the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) five seats; the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) four seats and the Awami Muslim League (AML) and the Awami National Party one seat each.



Parties’ position in provinces

Punjab, the country’s largest province, is numerically in control of the PML-N but the PTI is likely to form a government there as 29 independent candidates tend to support the party ruling in the Centre.

The PML-N has bagged 131 seats while the PTI has secured 120 seats. Seven seats of the PML-Q can also play a pivotal role for both the parties. The PPP has got only six seats in the province, whose assembly directly elects 297 members.

In K-P, the PTI has been victorious on 67 seats, ensuring its simple majority. The MMA has emerged as the second leading party followed by the ANP with six seats and the PML-N with five seats. Independent candidates have also won five seats.

It is after three decades that the residents of the province have elected a party for the second consecutive term but this time the PTI will not require to make alliance with other parties to form a government

In Sindh, the PPP is leading with 77 seats while the PTI has surprised many by winning 20 seats in the province. The MQM has bagged 13, the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) 10 while the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and the MMA have got two seats each – from Karachi.

In Balochistan where direct elections were held on 51 seats, the newly formed Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) has got 11 seats followed by the MMA which has secured nine seats.

The BNP has won seven and the ANP has bagged three seats. The independent candidates have won five constituencies while the PML-N, the province’s former ruling party, has got only one seat.



Unusual victories

Not only Imran Khan’s party emerged as the country’s biggest political force, the former cricketer also stood out as the only candidate who won from all the five constituencies he was contesting from.

At NA-35 Bannu constituency, Imran defeated the MMA’s Akram Khan Durrani; at NA-53, he defeated PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi; at NA-95 Mianwali he won against the PML-N’s Obaid Ullah Khan; at NA-131 Lahore he beat PML-N’s Saad Rafique and at NA-243 Karachi he vanquished MQM’s Ali Raza Abidi.

For the first time in the country's history, a man from the Kalash community of Chitral, Kalasha Wazir Zada, has also been elected on a minority seat. He was awarded a ticket for a reserved minority seat in the K-P Assembly by the PTI.

The PPP's Mahesh Kumar Malani has become the first Hindu to become an MNA on general seat from Tharparkar. He defeated Arbab Zakaullah at NA-222 constituency by bagging 37,245. Zakaullah got only 18,323 votes.



Unusual defeats

Apart from two Punjab Assembly seats, the PML-N chief Shehbaz Sharif was also contesting from four NA constituencies – NA-3 Swat, NA-132 Lahore, NA-249 Karachi and NA-192 DG Khan.

However, Shehbaz was not as lucky as Imran as he lost polls from Swat, Karachi and DG Khan seats to rival PTI candidates, Saleem Rehman, Faisal Vawda and Mohammad Khan Laghari.

The PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was contesting election from three different constituencies – NA-8 Malakand, NA-246 Karachi and NA-200 Larkana. However, he faced defeat at the Malakand and Karachi seats. The NA-246 seat – which falls at the PPP’s traditional stronghold of Lyari – was won by the PTI’s Abdul Shakoor Shaad while at NA-8 seat Bilawal was defeated by the PTI’s Junaid Akbar.

The MMA chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also lost polls from both NA-38 and NA-39 constituencies of Dera Ismail Khan. The PTI’s Ali Ameen Gandapur and Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh were the winning candidates from the respective constituencies.

The PML-N stalwart and former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also faced defeat at Murree and Islamabad seats. The PML-N disgruntled leader Chaudhry Nisar also lost his traditional NA seat in Rawalpindi.

The former ruling party’s Daniyal Chaudhry, Amir Muqam,  Saad Rafique, Tallal Chaudhry and former Balochistan home minister and BAP candidate Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti; the PTI’s Aleem Khan as well as the PPP candidate and former PM  Yousuf Raza Gilani were also defeated by the rival candidates.

In another setback to the PML-N, former minister Abid Sher Ali lost election at the NA-108, Faisalabad-8 constituency. He was defeated by the PTI’s Farrukh Habib who secured 112,740. According to unofficial result Ali got 111,529 votes.

The PTI Firdous Ashiq Awan faced defeat at NA-72 constituency at the hands of the PML-N’s Chaudhry Armaghan Subhani. Subhani bagged 129,041 votes against Awan’s 91,393 votes.

The MQM’s Farooq Sattar also faced defeat at NA-245, Karachi East 4. His rival, the PTI candidate Amir Liaquat Hussian won the race by securing 56,615 votes. Sattar could bag just 35,247 votes.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq contesting on the MMA ticket from NA-7, Lower Dir-II also lost to the PTI's Muhammad Bashir Khan who got 63,017 votes. Siraj received a total of 46,040 votes.

Another stalwart of the ANP, Asafandyar Wali Khan, lost NA-24 Charsadda seat to the PTI’s Fazal Muhammad Khan. The PTI candidate bagged 83,495 votes as compared to Wali’s 59,483 votes.

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, another big gun of the ANP, also lost to the PTI candidate who secured 87,895 votes at the NA-31 Peshawar. Bilour received 42,476 votes.