SIALKOT: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Nosheen Iftikhar emerged victorious in much-hyped NA-75 Daska by-poll with a huge margin of over 19,000 votes on Saturday, according to unconfirmed and unofficial results of 360 polling stations.
As per the unofficial results, Nosheen bagged 111,220 votes while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Ali Asjad Malhi secured 92,019 votes.
Soon after the unofficial announcement, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz took to Twitter to celebrate the victory and said the people of Daska have won the war of “restoring the sanctity of vote”.
“Well done Daska! Congratulations to the zealous and brave people of Daska! Well done Nosheen! You have won the “respect the vote” battle once again today,” she wrote in the tweet.
Other than the PML-N and the PTI, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Khalil Sandhu was also in the run.
The seat had fallen vacant after the demise of PML-N MP Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah in August.
Voting for the by-election began at 8:00 am and continued until 5:00 pm without any pause. After 5:00 pm, only those voters who were inside the polling stations at the time were allowed to cast their votes.
To make the conduct of the re-poll transparent, CCTV cameras were installed at 47 sensitive polling stations, out of a total 360.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had decided that the presiding officers will sign the Form 45 (final results) inside the polling stations in the presence of polling agents of the respective candidates before they leave the premises, while no political figure will be allowed to meet the RO while receiving the election results.
During the day, the ECP issued a show cause notice to PML-N MPA Zeeshan Rafique for violating the election code of conduct. The district election commissioner also sought an explanation from the MPA within a day.
On the other hand, the district monitoring officer of NA-75 Daska issued show cause notices to PML-Q leader Chaudhry Saleem Bariar and Special Assistant to Punjab CM Firdous Ashiq Awan for violating the code of conduct.
PML-Q leader Bariar had on April 9 announced a development package of Rs500 million for the constituency and Awan had announced the package for the constituency during a press conference.
“The announcement of development packages for the constituency is a violation of the code of conduct,” the election commission said. The district monitoring officer sought a reply from both within two days.
FIRDOUS ACCUSES PML-N OF RIGGING:
Fridous said that in line with the directions of ECP, the provincial government took all-out steps to ensure free and fair elections.
However, despite the all steps taken by the authorities, she said in a press conference, many irregularities were witnessed during the polling. “Goons of PML-N tried to sabotage the law and order in the area,” she alleged.
The spokesperson said the ruling PTI did not contest election against a political worker but “land grabbers and drug peddlers”. “PML-N believes in rigging and they don’t have nerves to accept their defeat.”
SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS:
In order to ensure fair re-election the provincial election commission had assigned Pakistan Rangers the task of safe transportation of presiding officers and the polling material to the polling stations and then to the office of the returning officer.
Such strict measures came in the wake of February 19 Daska by-polls, where different incidents of alleged vote tampering, rigging and clashes were reported. The ruling party and the opposition were at odds as the former was claiming victory whereas the latter alleged massive rigging in the constituency.
The post PML-N wins Daska by-election with huge margin appeared first on Pakistan Today.
from Pakistan Today https://ift.tt/3g1xPzA
0 comments: