Daily Times

The dream of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to win election from Lahore was shattered despite the fact that the party tried hard to clinch his seat from the provincial capital.

PML-N firebrand leader Attaullah Tarar grabbed the NA-127 seat by securing 98,210 votes. PTI-backed Zaheer Abbas Khokhar got 82,230 votes and stood at number two.

Shockingly, PPP chairman could get only 15,005 votes and lost the seat with a huge margin.

However, Bilawal won his seat from his constituency Larkana with a comfortable majority.

The electioneering in NA-127 remained talk of the town as Bilawal entered in the political field of Lahore following the footsteps of his mother Benazir Bhutto and grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Lahore is the city where the PPP was founded by Bhutto in November 1967. Both Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had won election from Lahore but the third generation of Bhutto dynasty failed to make any impact in the historical city.

Earlier, PPP ran an aggressive campaign for Bilawal in NA-127 as the party’s leaders from Sindh also camped in Lahore for several days.

The exchange of harsh words between PPP and PML-N leaders was also seen in the constituency as Atta Tarar has alleged that votes were being bought in the constituency.

The election results brought many surprises on Friday morning as heavyweights lost the battle to PTI-backed independent candidates.

A similar political upset was reported in Lahore as PML-N stalwart and former federal minister Khawaja Saad Rafique lost his seat to PTI-backed independent candidate Sardar Latif Khosa.

According to the election results, the renowned lawyer and PTI-backed Latif Khosa grabbed 117,109 votes in NA-122 constituency of Lahore.

Khawaja Saad Rafique of PML-N could get 77,907 votes in the closely watched contest.

The defeat of PML-N veteran with a huge margin of around 40,000 votes is a setback to the party in its stronghold of Lahore. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, the PML-N veteran showed grace as he congratulated Latif Khosa.

In his statement on X, Khwaja Saad Rafique accepted his defeat with an open heart and prayed for the upcoming parliament.

Jahangir Tareen, the chairman of Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), faced defeat in both constituencies of the National Assembly in the Feb 8 polls.

Tareen contested from NA-149 and NA-155 Lodhran-2 but was unable to clinch victory as per unofficial results.

The results from 369 polling stations in Lodhran revealed that PML-N candidate Sadiqque Khan Baloch emerged victorious in NA-155 with 117,671 votes, while Tareen garnered only 71,128 votes.

Similarly, Tareen suffered defeat in NA-149 Multan where he secured 50,166 votes. PTI-backed independent candidate Malik Amir Dogar triumphed in NA-149 with 143,613 votes.

Rizwan Hans, the PPP candidate, secured the third position in NA-149 with 14,625 votes, according to unofficial results. Jahangir Tareen’s defeat in both constituencies marks a significant setback for his party and raises questions about his future political endeavours.