For the first time in her political career, former National Assembly speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Saturday suffered a defeat in PS-73 (Badin-IV) after the recounting process in the Sindh Assembly constituency was finally completed.

Dr Mirza, who contested the July 25 elections from PS-73 and NA-230 on a ticket of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), had won the NA seat but lost to PPP's Taj Muhammad Mallah in PS-73. However, she had rejected the results citing “massive rigging and electoral irregularities”.

Mallah was declared winner against Dr Mirza with a 281-vote lead. He had polled 37,645 votes against her 37,364 votes.

On Dr Mirza's request, a recounting process was started in PS-73 that was marred by heated arguments between opposing parties. After recounting on all 133 polling stations of PS-73, it emerged today that Mirza had lost to Mallah by 896 votes, as she received 36,321 votes while the latter bagged 37,217 votes.

Recounting process is also underway in NA-230 (Badin-II) constituency on the request of PPP's Haji Rasool Bux Chandio, who had lost to Dr Mirza by a margin of 860 votes.

Though Mirza had appealed to the Sindh High Court for staying the ongoing recount of votes in NA-230, the high court had turned down her plea and ordered the returning officer to continue with the recounting process.