–28.31% voter turnout recorded in NA by-polls while 35.71% turnout was recorded on provincial seats
–ECP decides to include 6,233 votes polled by overseas Pakistanis into final count
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced that the voter turnout during Sunday’s by-polls for National Assembly seats was 28.31 per cent while it was recorded at 35.71 per cent for the provincial assembly seats, as it decided to include the votes cast by overseas Pakistanis in the final results.
Moreover, the commission has ordered all successful candidates to submit details of expenses incurred by them in the by-elections 2018.
The successful candidates will have to share details of their election expenses with the electoral body within 10 days starting from Monday. The returning officers, who have been issued instructions by the ECP, will inform the electoral body after successful candidates submit their details.
After receiving the details, the electoral body will issue notifications declaring successful candidates.
Other candidates who contested the by-polls will have to submit their details to the ECP within 30 days.
According to unofficial results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have won four NA seats each, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has won two and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) one seat.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, PTI has won six out of nine seats while Awami National Party (ANP) two seats and PML-N one seat of the provincial assembly.
In Punjab Assembly, PML -N has won six, PTI five while independents won two seats.
In Sindh Assembly, PPP has emerged the winner on both the seats of the provincial assembly. In Balochistan Assembly, BNP and independent have won one seat each.
PTI has lost two seats, which were vacated by Prime Minister Imran Khan, in by-polls held on Sunday. Prime Minister Imran Khan won from five seats of National Assembly in the general polls, which include NA-35 Bannu, NA-53 Islamabad, NA-95 Mianwali, NA-131 Lahore and NA-243 Karachi.
PM Khan decided to keep the NA-95 seat from Mianwali and vacated four seats, on which PTI faced defeat on two seats. MMA’s Zahid Akram Durrani won the seat of NA-35 Bannu after beating PTI’s candidate, Maulana Naseem Ali Shah.
Khawaja Saad Rafique won the NA-131 seat after beating PTI’s Humayun Akhtar.
i-VOTING RESULTS TO BE INCLUDED:
Meanwhile, ECP Spokesman Nadeem Qasim said that the details of all the votes cast through the internet have been sent to the relevant returning officers (ROs).
“The ROs will add these results to their final tallies,” Qasim added.
Out of 7,364 registered overseas Pakistanis votes, 6,233 polled their votes through i-voting software in Sunday’s by-polls.
The ECP had allowed overseas Pakistanis to vote in the by-polls on an experimental basis on the directives of the Supreme Court.
Though the ECP has not released a statement about the turnout in the by-polls — that were held on 24 provincial assembly seats and 11 National Assembly constituencies — an official said the estimated turnout was between 35 and 40 per cent.
The votes of overseas Pakistanis can play a decisive role in six constituencies.
From the registered overseas Pakistanis, 5,117 voted on the National Assembly seats while 1,116 cast their ballots for provincial assembly constituencies.
The margin of victory is very low in one National Assembly, three Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and two Punjab Assembly seats and the results can change after the votes of overseas Pakistanis are included.
