PP-16 by-elections: Jahangir Khanzada cruises to electoral victory

Election turned out to be one-sided due to overwhelming support for slain home minister

ATTOCK: Jahangir Khanzada, son of the slain home minister of Punjab Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada, stomped home to victory on Tuesday in the by-election of PP-16 Attock-II. A massive outpouring of sympathy decided the outcome of the vote, according to political observers.

As per unofficial results, Jahangir Khanzada polled over 41,700 votes, whereas his nearest opponent, an independent candidate, received a measly 4,420 votes.

Celebrations broke out outside the Khanzada residence where  a large number of PML-N leaders and activists had gathered to congratulate him.

Khanzada voiced gratitude to the people and political leaders of his constituency for extending their full support to him.

Sources say the election turned out to be one-sided because of the overwhelming support for Jahangir Khanzada, as all the political parties and groups decided to not contest the by-elections due to the sacrifice of his father and provincial minister.

The seat of PP-16 Attock -II constituency was vacant following the tragic death of Shuja Khanzada in a terrorist attack at his residence in Shadi Khan village in Attock district on August 16.

Hectic efforts were earlier made by local political elders and PML-N leaders to convince PPP aspirant Dr Naeem Awan to withdraw from the by-elections but he refused and decided to contest election at any cost. Col (retd) Shuja Khanzada had previously won this seat by a majority of 38,790 votes, while Dr Naeem Awan secured only 990 votes in the 2013 general elections.

According to the district election commissioner, 137 polling stations were set up for the by- election. The election was largely peaceful and no untoward incident was reported, sources added.

Results via mobile phones

In a first, the ECP used an android based mobile phone application to transmit results from 61 polling stations in Punjab Assembly’s constituency PP-16. The measure was a test project for using smart phones to transmit results directly from the polling station to ECP headquarters before sending hardcopies to the office of the district returning officer, according to a statement issued by the media office of ECP.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2015.