Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Qadir Khan Mandokhail has emerged victorious in the NA-249 by-election in Karachi by a margin of 16,156 votes, according to provisional results released early on Friday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Miftah Ismail came second with 15,473 votes, followed by the candidate from the recently banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Mufti Nazeer Ahmed Kamalvi, who secured 11,125 votes, Dawn reported citing unofficial results.
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal came in the fourth place with 9,227 votes, followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Amjad Afridi with 8,922 votes.
Reacting to the news, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari simply said: "Thank you Karachi #NA249."
NA-249, Karachi West II, was created in 2018 by amalgamating areas that previously fell in two NA constituencies (NA-239 and NA-240) during three general elections held from 2002 to 2013, Dawn reported.
Meanwhile, the PTI and PML-N have rejected the results of the by-election.
Federal Minister for Shipping and Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi claimed it was "obvious the crooked PPP and the provincial election commission were hand in glove in this mess!"
"In an election held in the biggest city of Pakistan, with very low turnout, 8 hrs later every candidate is crying foul except one who was no where in the run!" he tweeted.
On the other hand, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz claimed that the election was stolen by "only a few hundred votes".
"Election stolen from PMLN by only a few hundred votes. ECP must withhold the results of one of the most disputed & controversial elections. Even if it doesn't, this victory will be temporary and will Insha'Allah come back to PMLN soon," she tweeted.
She also questioned how counting of ballots could continue late into the night when voter turnout was barely 15-18 per cent.
"The PPP in 2018 was a distant number six with 7,236 votes at 5.63pc of total vote cast at 39.58pc turnout. The PML-N will not allow a repeat of 2018 forgery. NO WAY," she said.
According to media reporters, the voter turnout for the NA-249 by-poll remained low on Thursday in most polling stations across the constituency, despite the hype created around the election for the past few weeks, according to Dawn.
Tension was reported at some polling stations as workers of rival parties exchanged heated arguments with each other, said officials.
The NA-249 seat had fallen vacant after PTI's Faisal Vawda resigned over his dual nationality controversy and became a senator.
The election came after Imran Khan's ruling PTI suffered an upset when its candidate Ali Asjad Malhi lost the hotly-contested NA-75 seat in Daska to PML-N's Nosheen Iftikhar earlier this month.
( With inputs from ANI )
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