KARACHI: Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) leader Dr Fehmida Mirza on Sunday retained Badin’s NA-230 seat in the recount of votes ordered by the Sindh High Court (SHC).
The former National Assembly speaker had bagged 95,064 votes against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Haji Rasool Bakhsh Chandio who was the runners-up with 93,999 votes. Mirza retained the seat with a lead of 1,065 votes, according to unofficial results issued by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The SHC had dismissed a petition on Friday of Dr Mirza to stop the recount in the NA-230 constituency, from where she has been elected for the fifth consecutive time. She had prayed to the court to suspend the ECP’s July 30 directives to the Returning Officer to complete the recounting in the Badin constituency.
Earlier on Saturday, Dr Fehmida Mirza was handed the maiden defeat of political career in PS-73 (Badin-IV) after recounting of votes. Despite winning the NA seat, she had lost to PPP’s Taj Muhammad Mallah in PS-73.
In the close contest, Mallah was declared winner against Dr Mirza with a lead of just 281 votes. He had polled 37,645 votes against Fehmida’s 37,364 votes.