RAHIM YAR KHAN: PPP’s Makhdoom Tahir Rasheeduddin defeated PTI’s Hassaan Mustafa in the by-election held for NA-171, according to unofficial results compiled on Thursday night.

The seat had fallen vacant after PTI-backed MNA Rais Mumtaz Mustafa’s death a few weeks ago.

Mr Rasheeduddin secured 116,429 votes against Hassaan Mustafa’s 58,251, the unofficial tally shows.

Later, celebrations started at the residence of Mr Rasheeduddin.

However, Hassaan Mustafa alleged in a video message that police had sealed 71 polling booths and didn’t provide them Form-45s.

PTI alleges Form-45s of several polling stations not provided to them

He alleged that police picked up 14 of their supporters from Chachran Sharif. Women supporters in different areas were assaulted, he claimed, adding that police had suspended the polling process at many booths.

There were a total of 301 polling stations in the constituency.

The constituency mostly consists of rural areas of tehsils Rahim Yar Khan and Khanpur, including Kotsamaba, Mianwali Quershian, Rukanpur, Sardar Garh, Abadpur, Ihsanpur, Zahirpir, Fatehpur Kamal, Chachran Sharif, Nawan Kot, Jajja Abbasian and Kotla Pathan.

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Three provincial constituencies — PP-259, PP-260 and PP-261— fall under NA-171 where PTI had defeated other candidates in the Feb 8 general elections.

The total number of registered voters in the constituency is 526,973, of them 288,113 are men and 238,860 women.

Rais Mustafa had contested for the seat as a PTI-supported candidate in the Feb 8 elections and bagged 103,834 votes, defeating former Punjab finance minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht, who got 56,028 votes. Makhdoom Tahir Rasheeduddin, son of former federal finance minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, had secured 49,019 votes then.

Rais Mustafa’s win was a major blow to the Makhdooms of Mianwali Qureshian as he had dented the culture of feudalism and dynastic politics.

For Thursday’s by-poll, the PTI issued the ticket to Hassaan Mustafa, son of Rais Mustafa.

After defeat in the general election, all the Makhdooms of Mianwali Quershian joined hands against Hassaan Mustafa.

A former governor of Punjab, Makhdoom Ahmed Mehmood, also lent support to Mr Rasheeduddin. PML-N and other political parties and many landlords of the area had also supported Mr Rasheeduddin.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024