By-polls. Photo: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
Voter participation remained markedly subdued in the recent by-elections, with an overall turnout of just 28.58 per cent across six National Assembly and seven provincial constituencies, according to official documents released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday.
The ECP data shows a stark contrast in electoral engagement between constituencies, with only a handful recording relatively robust turnouts.
NA-18 Haripur emerged as the highest-performing constituency nationwide, registering a turnout of 50.82 per cent, nearly double the national aggregate.
In comparison, other National Assembly seats reported notably weaker participation.
NA-185 posted a turnout of 32.61 per cent, NA-96 Faisalabad 26.46 per cent, NA-143 Sahiwal 21.43 per cent and NA-129 Lahore saw just 18.67 per cent of registered voters cast their ballots.
The lowest voter activity among the National Assembly seats was observed in NA-104 Faisalabad, where turnout slumped to 13.23 per cent, the documents state.
The provincial by-elections reflected a similar downward trend, albeit with marginally better engagement in some pockets. PP-269 Muzaffargarh matched Haripur with a turnout of 50.82 per cent, making it the most active among provincial constituencies.
It was followed by PP-98 Faisalabad at 36.82 per cent, PP-73 Sargodha at 34.45 per cent and PP-87 Mianwali at 27 per cent.
Meanwhile, PP-116 Faisalabad registered 22.94 per cent, PP-203 Sahiwal 22.4 per cent and the remaining seats hovered below the already discouraging national average.
As it emerged victorious in all the seats, the ruling PML-N secured close to 64 per cent of the total votes polled in the by-elections for six National Assembly constituencies held on Sunday.
Five constituencies were located in Punjab and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These seats, except for one, were vacated due to the disqualification of the opposition PTI MNAs.
The PML-N bagged 564,400 votes out of a total 883,108 or 63.91% of the votes cast for the six National Assembly seats. In a surprising outcome, the PML-N also snatched from the PTI the NA-18 seat (Haripur, KP) against all expectations. Political analysts had been hoping that at least this seat would be retained by the PTI because of certain factors, including that KP is being ruled by the PTI, so there were minimal chances of rigging in the constituency.
Former opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub’s wife was contesting against little-known Babar Nawaz Khan of the PML-N.
Likewise, the PML-N clinched from the PTI the NA-129 (Lahore-XIII) seat, vacated after the death of MNA Miaz Azhar, former Punjab governor and father of PTI leader Hammad Azhar. Mr Azhar’s nephew Arsalan was facing PML-N’s Hafiz Nauman here. Both represented the Arain clan, which constitutes the majority of the voters in the constituency.
The PML-N won six out of seven Punjab Assembly seats in the province by securing 82.41pc of the polled votes.
