Now that the highly anticipated results of NA-122 and PP-147 are out and the winning candidates have been issued official notifications by the Election Commission, the people of Lahore can breathe a long and much deserved sigh of relief.

Election fever, which gripped Lahore since an election tribunal in late August disqualified the former National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq over irregularities, came down along with a blizzard of campaign posters that hijacked the city’s skies.

Lahore and its inhabitants have returned to normal life, with the exception of party jiyalas who continue to celebrate the outcomes with music blaring from cars. Bitter rivalries between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and its rival Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf largely defused after the end of the PTI’s four-month long sit-in. That has been renewed.

In a truly unfortunate turn of events, a barrage of unsubstantiated allegations and vitriol returned to our tv screens. Amidst this growing hostility between both parties, hopes for comprehensive electoral reforms and collaboration across the aisle for stronger civilian institutions have been lost in a welter of abused pride.

Shortly after NA-122 candidate Ayaz Sadiq proclaimed victory last Sunday securing 74,525 votes with a lead of less than 3000 votes over his opponent, the PTI leadership in a late night press conference voiced its serious reservations over the polling process.

Despite gaining the provincial seat for its PP-147 candidate Shoaib Siddiqi against PML-N’s Mohsin Latif and having its demands fulfilled for Army deployment, the party led by Chaudhry Sarwar and Jehangir Tareen cried foul over supposed irregularities in the voters lists displacing many PTI voters in the constituency and unlawful use of government machinery benefiting the ruling party.

In the week that followed this hot and exorbitant contest, the party unhappy with its defeat in NA-122 called for a ballot recount and verification of the voters list by the Election Commission. Taking aim at the Pakistani media, PTI MNA Shafqat Mehmood alleged that TV channels aired polls results in advance favouring Sardar Ayaz Sadiq.

Addressing a rally in Garhi Shahu on October 14, one of the areas falling under NA-122 and PP-147, PTI Chief Imran Khan further added to the long litany of complaints stating that the party candidate had lost because the Punjab Election Commission was in control of the government. PML-N bought journalists, imprisoned politicians in Changa Manga, and sent an expensive car to a former army chief, thus could never conduct transparent elections, Khan told his supporters in the crowd.

Rejuvenated with an unhealthy dose of triumph, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz laughed off all claims posed by its rival and instead chose to mock their loss by a small margin of votes in NA-122. Known for his acerbic diatribes against the party on the National Assembly floor, Federal Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters that Imran Khan should seek medical treatment at a facility on Jail Road. His counterpart Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid proudly flaunted that PML-N had won the hearts of Lahoris by retaining its seat even as the margin of victory of Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had significantly reduced compared to 2013.

In his press conference, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar rubbished claims of changes in voters list and claimed this to be an excuse for the poor performance of PTI. Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif in his statement to the press noted that the result of NA-122 had shown that the public of Lahore had rejected Imran Khan and his ‘container’ politics.

Rather than introspecting on their respective wins and losses, the results of these constituencies made both parties return to old habits.

It is noticeably ironic that while PTI has expressed reservations over NA-122, it has under the same breath accepted the victory of Shoaib Siddiqi in PP-147 with a lead of more than 3000 votes over PML-N’s Mohsin Latif.

Did the Election Commission designate separate polling stations for PP-147 and NA-122? Was the ECP staff overseeing PP-147 polling untainted by the general misconduct in counting votes? Were the voter lists for both the provincial and national polling not the same?

Although it has managed to shake up political monopolies, there are important lessons for the admittedly formidable force to learn from and grow. Campaigns centred around attacks undoubtedly have a negative impact on an electorate desperate to hear politicians lend their support to issues of vital public interest. Voters, especially in Pakistan, where the political discourse has been lately dominated by hate, wish to know what the candidates bring to the table. Being against the status quo is not enough, to put it in simpler words.

Undecided voters in NA-122, of which there were many, were largely unaware of Aleem Khan, beyond the label of ‘qabza group’ branded by PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz. Instead of spending a disproportionate amount of time accusing the government of corruption, Imran Khan could have shed light on its PTI Lahore president. Anti-incumbency is a phenomenon that an opposition party can use in its favour, but it cannot rest its election campaign on this alone. PTI’s fiery brand of confrontational and aggressive politics seems to have hit the wall, and the electorate is not impressed.

This does not translate into a win for PML-N in this zero-sum conflict with its rival, however. The party failed to win with a comfortable margin despite having controversially deployed federal ministers and Sharif family members in its grand election campaign.

Going up against Aleem Khan, a candidate with inferior political experience and known for illegal land grab, instead of 2013 candidate PTI Chief Imran Khan, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq could have secured a far greater number of votes.

Losing the provincial seat to PTI and facing a close contest in NA-122, there is little for the ruling party to be proud of. The crown jewel of PML-N, Lahore has shown in the recent by-polls that it cannot be branded a stronghold, anymore. For good or for bad, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has become a force to be reckoned with.

The by-polls have many lessons for both parties. But the most important one for both Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif lies in the public’s deep apathy and distrust in the prevailing system that governs Pakistan. It is about a failed democratic process, unresponsive governance, exclusionary top-to-bottom development models, and the common man consumed by cynicism. The race for NA-122 and PP-147 might have ended, but the bigger race is up for grabs.