Lahore 17 July 2022

As the results of crucial by-elections on 20 Punjab Assembly seats in Punjab continued to trickle in late on Sunday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has emerged victorious in the majority of the seats. According to the unofficial and inconclusive results, the Imran Khan-led party has secured back 15 seats out of 20 polls results.

The former ruling party won two provincial assembly seats from Jhang, three from Lahore and one each from Multan, Rawalpindi, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Sahiwal, Khushab, Bhakkar, Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, and Lodhran.

According to the unofficial results, PML-N won four seats including only one from Lahore. An independent candidate won a seat too, according to preliminary results received till now.

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has accused the Punjab government of using the state machinery to rig the by-elections on 20 provincial assembly seats while calling upon the courts to ‘open now and act’.

In a tweet from his official handle, Imran said the provincial government led by CM Hamza Shehbaz “brazenly” violated Supreme Court orders and election rules “by openly using all govt/State machinery to rig Punjab elections through illegal ballot stamping & harassing voters while arresting PTI ldrs[leaders]”.

“Through it all ECP [Election Commission of Pakistan] turned a blind eye. Courts must open now & act,” he maintained.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) established 3,131 polling stations in these 20 constituencies, out of which 676 have been declared highly sensitive and 1,194 sensitive. However, there was no serious incident reported through out the province of Punjab during

Former Prime Minister Sharif’s led alliance today announced it\s defeat in provincial by-elections at a press c conference this night. Both major political parties PMLN and PPP in PMLN led governments in federal and Punjab province have called their Executive committee meeting tomorrow evening.

On other side, government of Pakistan has put security on high alert for 48 hours in the Capital city of Islamabad.