NA-133 Lahore by-election: PML-N defeats PPP to retain seat in stronghold, unofficial results show
PML-N defeats PPP to continue reign in NA-133; PTI fell out of race earlier. Voter participation was low at 18.59% versus 51.89% seen in 2018. Day largely uneventful save for a PML-N, PPP face off on two occasions, reports of a voter capturing a photo inside a polling station.
LAHORE: PML-N’s Shaista Pervaiz Malik on Sunday won the NA-133 constituency, enabling her party to retain the seat in a constituency that has long been the party’s stronghold. Unofficial, preliminary results showed Malik defeated PPP opponent Aslam Gill by a margin of 14,498 votes, according to the unofficial results, securing 46,811 votes, versus Gill’s 32,313.
She succeeded her late husband Malik Pervaiz whose death left the NA-133 seat vacant. The PML-N has won the seat for the fourth time since 2008, although by a smaller margin this time around, as compared to when the party won it in the 2018 elections.
In 2018, Pervaiz Malik secured 89,699 votes, which means PML-N got 42,888 fewer votes this time. PPP’s Gill, however, got 26,728 more votes now as compared to the 2018 polls, when he obtained only 5,585. PTI’s Aijaz Chaudhry won 77,293 votes in the 2018 general elections. PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif dedicated the victory to the late Malik, describing him as a “thorough gentleman, dedicated public servant and great companion of (party supremo) Nawaz Sharif”. “Grateful to NA 133 for their unwavering trust,” he added.
PPP President Asif Ali Zardari, too, congratulated workers over the party’s “splendid results”. “The efforts put in by Peoples Party Central Punjab’s leadership, its team, and workers have borne fruit,” the PPP quoted Zardari as saying. Zardari congratulated PPP Central Punjab President Raja Pervez Ashraf. “The Lahore by-poll has proved to be a turning point for Peoples Party,” Zardari said. The PPP president said that the party has been “born again” in Lahore which will prove to be the impetus needed to bring change in Punjab.