After a neck-and-neck contest, Abdul Qadir Gilani, the PPP candidate and son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, has won the by-elections held in Multan’s NA 151.
According to unofficial results, Abdul Qadir Gilani led the race with 64628 votes while Sikandar Bosan was the runner up with 60532, with the former winning the lead of 4062 votes.
The National Assembly seat vacated by former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after Supreme Court has disqualified him for defying its order to write a letter to Swiss authorities against President Asif Ali Zardari.
Earlier, rigging reports were also received from various polling stations where people accused presiding officers of stamping the ballot papers.
Ten candidates, nine of them independent, were contesting the bye-election in Multan constituency.
The competition was between Abdul Qadir Gilani and Malik Shaukat Hayat Boson.
Gilani is contesting election on Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) ticket while Boson is backed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Islam (PTI).
Shaukat is the younger brother of former federal minister and leader Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Sikandar Hayat Boson who had defeated former PM Gilani in past general election as PML-N candidate with 4000 voters.
N-League did not announce to field its candidate for by-election in NA-15 as Boson is silently backed by PTI.
There are at least 307871 registered voters in the constituency; of them, 167,091 are male and 140,080 are women. A total of 245 polling stations were set up for Thursday’s elections where voters cast their votes.
NA 151: Abdul Qadir Gilani wins by-election
