Daily Times

Lahore: Public opinion in Punjab seems firmly secured in support of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as it secured a convincing victory against the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in a by-election held on NA-154 Lodhran on Monday.

The seat was vacated following the disqualification of Jahangir Khan Tareen.

According to unofficial results from 227 polling stations, PML-N candidate Muhammad Iqbal Shah beat his rival Ali Tareen of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) by more than 27,500 votes.

Shah secured 113,452 votes from 227 polling stations against 85,933 votes of Tareen, son of Jahangir Tareen.

Following the trend in recent by-polls across the country, the third slot in Lodhran as well was secured by a candidate backed by the barelvi extremist party, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan. Its candidate secured around 9,900 votes. PPP was a distant forth with just above 3,100 votes.

In his tweet following the announcement of unofficial results, PTI chairman Imran Khan said, “Those who get demoralised can never achieve their potential. In my decade of political struggle for Insaf I have never been demoralised but have come back stronger after confronting adversities. The 2018 election is ours inshAllah.”

In one of her many tweets after the results announcement, Maryam Nawaz Sharif apparently addressed her opponents and said, “Don’t play with the conscience of Pakistani people. They don’t vote for pawns. They support lions who face adversity with courage.”

Voting had started early on Monday morning.

Besides Muhammad Iqbal Shah of the PML-N and Ali Tareen of PTI, others in the contest were PPP’s Mirza Muhammad Ali Baig, Tehreek-i-Labaik backed Azhar Sandila, and six others.

As many as 388 polling stations with 1,043 polling booths were set up to cater to the 431,000 registered voters. At around 26 percent, the voter turnout remained low compared to other by-polls held recently.

The polling remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from any polling station throughout the day. Army personnel were deployed at every polling station on the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) request.

Speaking to the media after casting his vote earlier in the day, Jahangir Tareen had said that there was no possibility of rigging in the by-election given the presence of army personnel outside polling stations. He said his party would soon respond to ECP’s notice of violation of code of conduct, expressing surprise that the election watchdog had not taken any notice of violations by the PML-N.

Even though on Sunday, the ECP had sent out notices imposing Rs30,000 fine on PML-N’s Muhammad Iqbal Shah for violating the code of conduct as he held a corner meeting after the time for canvassing was over.

PTI’s Ali Tareen was fined Rs40,000 for holding a political gathering in Lodhran, which was addressed by PTI chief Imran Khan. The ECP had already warned Khan and Tareen that addressing a rally in Lodhran would be a violation of the ECP code of conduct.

Monday’s election was the third held for the seat in the last four years. In the 2013, Siddique Baloch had won the seat as an independent candidate, defeating Jahangir Tareen by a margin of 10,000 votes. In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered a re-election in the constituency on Tareen’s petition against Baloch, accusing the latter of irregularities. The re-election was won by Tareen with over 35,000 votes.

Political observers associated the lack of vigour in the election activity on Monday to the absence of Siddique Baloch who had decided to not contest the by-poll following a meeting with the PML-N high command. He took the decision after the party refused to sponsor electioneering for his son who was his preferred candidate for the seat.

PML-N Lodhran president Tahir Amir Ghauri had opposed the party choice and said the party had become hostage to electables at the cost of loyal workers.

In his statement following the result, Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Iqbal Shah on his victory, saying that the result showed people’s faith in the leadership and policies of PML-N. He said honesty and politics of selfless service had, once again, remained victorious. “Elements involved in politics of agitation, chaos and sit-ins have been defeated.”

Published in Daily Times, February 13^th 2018.