The ruling coalition led by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has suffered a major setback. Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has won a major victory in the National Assembly and Assembly by-elections. This victory of Imran Khan in Pakistan is also considered special because general elections can be held there in a few months and it was being seen as a semi-final.
6 seats in the National Assembly
According to a Geo News report, PTI was contesting from 7 constituencies and won by-elections to 6 of the total 8 National Assembly seats across the country. The PTI chief won seats in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, Faisalabad and Nankana Sahib by defeating candidates of the ruling coalition.
Wins two out of three assembly seats in Punjab
The main opposition party won two of the three assembly seats in Punjab in the by-elections, further cementing its position in the country’s largest province, Geo News reported. The counting of votes after polling took place at 5 pm without any interruption despite intense political activity. As reported by Geo News, sporadic clashes were reported in some constituencies.
Pakistan facing floods
The bypolls are being held at a time when Pakistan is battling with devastating monsoon floods. Due to which more than 30 million people have been affected and a third of the country has been submerged. Significantly, the government wanted to delay the election for at least the next 90 days. For this, he had argued that the security personnel were busy in flood relief work, while there were also reports of terrorist activities during the elections. But the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan) rejected the suggestion of delaying the bypolls and asked the officials concerned to strengthen the security.