LAHORE: As the counting of votes for Lahore's NA-133 constituency by-polls came to an end on Sunday evening, unofficial, preliminary results from 254 polling stations showed PML-N's Shaista Pervaiz Malik emerge as the winner, enabling her party to retain the NA-133 seat for the fourth time.
Unofficial results showed Malik defeated PPP's Aslam Gill by a margin of 14,498 votes as she secured 46,811 votes. On the other hand, Gill received 32,313 votes.
The PML-N has won the seat for the fourth time since 2008. PTI's Aijaz Chaudhry won 77,293 votes in the 2018 general elections.
Polling began at 8am this morning and continued till 5pm without any interruptions. At 5pm sharp, the gates of the polling stations were closed so as to prevent more people from entering.
According to Geo News, amid the chilly weather in Lahore, the voter response to the by-poll remained rather 'cool'.
The NA-133 seat fell vacant after the death of PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik who died of heart complications on October 11.
According to the Punjab election commission, there are 254 polling stations in the constituency, including 22 polling stations of A category, 198 of B category and 34 polling stations of C category.
Of these, 199 polling stations were declared sensitive. Around 200 separate polling stations were set up for men and women and 54 mixed polling stations were also set up.
The total number of voters in the NA-133 constituency is 440,485, of which 233,585 are male voters and 206,927 female voters.
There were 11 candidates contesting the polls, including the former seat holder's widow, Shaista Pervaiz Malik, and PPP's Aslam Gill.
The PPP actively campaigned for the NA-133 by-election in Lahore in the hopes of reviving the party in Punjab.
The PML-N has retained the seat thrice in the past with Pervaiz Malik winning it in 2018 with 89,699 votes, Waheed Alam Khan in 2013 with over 100,000 votes and Naseer Bhutta in 2008 with a margin of over 32,000 votes.
After the Election Commission of Pakistan rejected the nomination papers of PTI candidate Jamshed Iqbal Cheema and his covering candidate, his wife Mussarat Cheema, no PTI candidate was in the race.
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