Lahore: The four Sharif family members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party have finally managed to win their National Assembly seats from their stronghold Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, in the just-concluded general elections, the results of which were declared Friday.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took over 20 hours after the polls to announce the results of their constituencies.
The Sharif family, which appeared despondent seeing the unfavorable results on Thursday night, felt buoyant when the ECP announced their victory in Lahore’s four constituencies in which candidates supported by jailed prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party were leading by a big margin.
The 2024 polls have become controversial because of the ECP’s conduct in delaying the polls and detaining the Returning Officers by the security agencies Thursday midnight.
PML-N supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif, 74, won from NA-130 by securing over 172,000 votes against PTI’s Dr Yasmin Rashid who got over 113,000.
Nawaz’s daughter Maryam Nawaz, 50, won from NA-119 securing over 83,000 votes against PTI Farooq Shahzad who bagged over 68,000.
Nawaz’s nephew Hamza Shehbaz, 49, won from NA-118 by securing over 105,000 votes against PTI’s Aliya Hamza who bagged over 100,000.
Nawaz’s younger brother and former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, 72, won from NA-123 bagging 63,000 votes against PTI’s Afzaal Phaat who had over 48,000 votes.
Interestingly, the ECP changed the RO from Nawaz’s constituency raising eyebrows on transparency of the vote count.
However, PML-N supremo Sharif faced a significant defeat against independent candidate Shahzada Gastasap in the NA-15 Mansehra constituency. Gastasap clinched 74,713 votes, while Nawaz managed to secure only 63,054 votes.
Meanwhile, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari lost the Lahore National Assembly seat NA-127 to PML-N’s Atta Tarar. Bilawal could manage to get only 15,000 votes.
Pakistan Thursday held the general elections marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence, and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown.
Both PTI and PML-N are claiming victory in the elections. Sharif is hoping to secure a record fourth term in the elections with the backing of the powerful Army. His party said Sharif was set to deliver a “victory speech” after the final results of the general elections.
PTI
