LAHORE, June 26: Voters’ response to by-polls for five national and 19 provincial assembly seats in Punjab, the NWFP and Sindh remained mainly dull on Thursday, leading to very low turnout, with reports of violence and kidnapping of a presiding officer in Punjab.

Pre-poll deals between candidates and their parties also added to voters’ disinterest in the exercise besides their bitterness over the prevailing socio-political conditions.

The PPP suffered a setback when it lost two seats of the Punjab Assembly vacated by its candidates in Khanewal and Muzaffargarh. Both the seats —PP-219 and PP-258 — were won by independent candidates.

In other contests, PPP candidates lost to PML-N nominees in Faisalabad and Bahawalnagar and a PML-Q candidate in Mandi Bahauddin.

The PML-N had bagged six provincial and three NA seats, while the PPP managed one seat of the National Assembly and two of the provincial assembly. Two seats of the Punjab Assembly went to independent candidates and one to the PML-Q.

Of seven provincial assembly seats in the NWFP, two each went to the Awami National Party, PPP and independent candidates and one to the PML-N.

Polling in Punjab was largely held in a peaceful manner but for violence in some areas. Voting at some polling stations for PP-118 of Mandi Bahauddin and PP-219 of Khanewal was briefly suspended after rival parties exchanged fire.

An SHO was injured and six people were wounded before police made some arrests to control the situation.

According to reports, activists of the PPP kidnapped an assistant presiding officer of PP-118 with results.

Under an agreement, the PPP and the PML-N did not field candidates against each other, rendering polling in most of the areas dull and one-sided, with most of the candidates of the two parties winning with a clear margin.

The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of the PML-Q, alleged that candidates of his party were harassed and at many places polling agents were forced out of polling stations.

He expressed the fear the turnout would be artificially increased to manipulate results in the absence of polling agents.Polling for PP-107, Hafizabad, was postponed after an independent candidate, Yaqoob Mohal, died of cardiac arrest. Election for NA-123 of Lahore, for which PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif is also a candidate, had been stayed by the Supreme Court.

In Rawalpindi, PML-N easily won two NA seats. According to unofficial results, Haji Pervez Khan won from NA-55 with 25,237 votes and Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar NA-52 seat with 54,917 votes. The voters’ turnout in both the constituencies remained below 25 per cent.

The NA-55 seat had been vacated by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi and NA-52 by Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. Former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had won from NA-55 for six times in previous elections.

Independent candidate Ijaz Khan Jazi was the runner up from NA-55 with 12,005 votes and Raja Nasir of the PML-Q from NA-52 with 22,773 votes.

The losing candidates alleged that PML-N leaders had used their influence and the Election Commission had delayed assigning polling staff in the PML-Q strongholds.

Polling was held at 562 polling stations in the two constituencies amid strict security arrangements but no untoward incident was reported except for a short brawl between women councillors of PML-N and PML-Q at a polling station in NA-52.

PPP’s Khanzada Khan won the lone NA seat up for grabs in the NWFP in Mardan. He received 21,000 votes, while Tajul Ameen Jabal of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal got 18,000 votes. The ANP and PML-N had not fielded candidates against Mr Khanzada.

According to unofficial results, Haji Mohammad Anwer and Malik Bacha Saleh of the PPP won from PF-91 and PF-92, respectively, in Upper Dir.

Sher Shah Khan and Taimur Khan of the ANP clinched PF-81, Swat, and PF-20 Charsadda, respectively. Sardar Shamoon Mehtab of the PML-N, son of MNA Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, won from PF-45, Abbottabad.

Independent candidate Dr Khalid Raza Zakori won the by-election from PF-75, Lakki Marwat, whereas Taj Mohammad Turand won from PF-59, Battagram.

With the results, the number of ANP’s members in the 124-member NWFP Assembly has risen to 48, PPP to 32 and PML-N to 10.

Taimoor Khan of the ANP received 8,351 votes against 7,230 of independent candidate Khalid Khan Mohmand for PF-20, Charsadda.

The seat had fallen vacant after former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao decided to retain his NA seat and vacate it. PPP-S candidate Jawed Hussain got 5,734 votes and Mufti Gohar Shah of the MMA 2,483 votes.

In Upper Dir, PPP’s Mohammad Anwer Khan won by a margin of about 6,000 votes against Haji Mohammad Anwer of Jamaat-i-Islami who was contesting as an independent candidate.

Malik Bacha Saleh of the PPP defeated independent Mohammad Ali by 1,600 votes.

From PF-81, Swat, Sher Shah Khan of the ANP received 7,738 votes against 5,264 bagged by Syed Afzal Shah of the PPP. Sheharyar Ameerzaib of the PML-N got 4,109 votes, independent Tahir Khan 3,451 and Maulana Nizamuddin of the MMA secured 3,039 votes.

Former caretaker minister Dr Khalid Raza Zakori, an independent candidate, was leading by 11,000 votes from 50 polling stations against another independent candidate, Anwar Moeen. The results of 19 polling stations were still awaited.

Taj Mohammad Khan Turand, an independent, won from PF-59, Battagram, by securing 12,600 votes, while Mohammad Aitzaz Ayaz Khan got 9,400 votes.

With results of only three polling stations left, Sardar Shamoon Mehtab of the PML-N had received 25,210 votes and his rival independent candidate Ghazanfar Abbasi had got 14,170 votes.

In Sindh, PPP’s Syed Bachal Shah Jilani defeated PML-F’s Shafqat Mahessar in by-polls for PS-30, Kingri (Khairpur-II), which elicited a comparatively dull response from voters. The polls were held in a peaceful manner.

According to unofficial results, the PPP candidate received 27,880 votes and his rival got 15,523 votes.

The PML-F candidate claimed that visits by PPP ministers to the constituency before the polls had influenced the results a polling station in Ulra village had been shifted without his consent to Odha village just a day before the polling. The PPP candidate dismissed the allegations.

The seat had fallen vacant after PML-F leader Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashdi retained his National Assembly seat.