PPP finishes second in Lahore

Published October 12, 2002

LAHORE, Oct 11: The PML-N has won four out of the 13 National Assembly seats of the provincial capital and 14 provincial assembly (PA) seats out of the total 25 seats, according to the unofficial results of the elections announced by the provincial election commission on Friday.

The People’s Party Parliamentarians stands second with three National Assembly seats and four PA seats while the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal has claimed three NA seats and two PA seats of the city. The Pakistan Muslim League (Q) has grabbed two NA seats and three PA seats. One NA seat has been won by the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT).

According to the unofficial results, the voters’ turnout for the NA seats was 31.59 per cent. The lowest turnout was 25.76 per cent in NA-123 while NA-128 had the highest turnout of 40 per cent.

The contest for the NA seats had a tight finish with the PML-N winning four seats, the PPP and MMA securing three seats each followed by the PML-QA with two seats.

Khwaja Saad Rafique, Pervez Malik, Sardar Aiyaz Sadiq and Mukhdoom Javed Hashmi won NA seats from the PML-N platform while PPP’s Aitzaz Ehsan, Malik Zaheer Abbas and Samina Khalid Ghurki ousted their rival candidates in their respective constituencies.

The MMA-backed candidates, Farid Ahmad Paracha, Liaquat Baloch and Hafiz Salman Butt, and PML-QA’s Hummayun Akhtar Khan and Habibullah Warriach have also made it to the floor of National Assembly.

The contest for PA seats was won single handedly by the PML-N. Dr Asad Ashraf, Bilal Yasin, Mujtaba Shujahur Rehman, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Akram Gujar, Begum Rehana Jamil, Sardar Aiyaz Sadiq, Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan, Mehar Ishtiaq Ahmad, Ahad Malik, Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor Khan, Sheikh Amjad Aziz, Rana Muhammad Tajamal Hussain and Muhammad Afzal Khokhar of the PML-N have been declared successful in their respective constituencies.

PPP’s Samiullah Khan, Haji Muhammad Ejaz, Rashid Bhatti and Qasim Zia also emerged as winners. Muhammad Asghar Chaudhry, Malik Qadir Hussain and Chaudhry Muhammad Mansha Sandhu have been declared successful on the PML-QA’s tickets. Two candidates of the MMA, Chaudhry Muhammad Shaukat and Syed Ehsan Ullah Waqas, and two independent candidates, namely Muhammad Salim Ishaq and Mian Muhammad Aslam, have won four PA seats.

PP-144 had a nail-biting finish with PML-N’s Akram Gujar winning with a thin margin of 280 votes against his rival candidate, Mian Akhlaq Guddoo.

The results of NA-125 were finalized on Friday’s morning declaring PML-QA’s Hummayun Akhtar as winner. According to speculations made on Thursday’s night, Akhtar had lost to PML-N’s Akram Zaki.

In one of the biggest upsets in Lahore, Hafiz Salman Butt secured a surprising victory against the PML-QA president in Lahore, Mian Muhammad Azhar, by polling 25,484 votes against 21,639 votes cast in favour of Mian Azhar. PPP candidate Chaudhry Abdul Qadir got 16,855 votes, while MMA’s Hafiz Abdul Wadood polled 2,728.

PAT Chairman Dr Tahirul Qadri’s win against PPP’s Prof Ejazul Hassan with a margin of over 12,000 votes in NA-127 also came as a surprise. While making it to the National Assembly floor for the first time, Dr Qadri also defeated Chaudhry Naseer Ahmad Bhutta and Abdul Aleem Khan, two strong contestants from the same constituency.

PML-N’s Khwaja Saad Rafique and Sardar Ayaz Sadiq are the only candidates in the city who have got elected from both NA and PA assembly seats. Saad got elected on NA-119 and PP-142 while Sardar Ayaz won NA-122 and PP-147. Both would have to quit either of the two seats won by them and by-elections would be held later for these vacant seats.

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