By-elections: PPP defeats PTI in NA-221 by huge margin

F.P. Report

THARPARKAR: PPP retained the NA-221 seat by a wide margin, bagging over 100,000 votes, while the PTI candidate came in second with just over 50,000 votes, unofficial results showed Monday.

PPP candidate Pir Ameer Ali Shah Jilani received 103,502 votes and his rival PTI candidate Nizamuddin Rahimoon got 50,570 votes, giving a major boost to the ruling PPP which claimed that the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led PTI has been rejected by the people of Sindh.

The seat had fallen vacant after PPP leader Pir Noor Muhammad Shah Jillani passed away battling coronavirus at a hospital in Karachi.

According to the district returning officer, the constituency has a total number of 281,900 votes while a total of 318 polling stations were set up in the constituency.

Out of these 318 polling stations, 95 had been declared extremely sensitive while 130 were considered sensitive.

An estimated 2,000 police and Rangers personnel had been stationed outside the polling stations to ensure safety and security. Polling stations that had been deemed “extremely sensitive” also had CCTV cameras installed in them.

‘Better for Imran Khan to resign and go home’

In a statement after the NA-221 victory, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that the people of Tharparkar have shown the mirror to “illegal and incompetent” rulers.

“Recent by-elections were the first test of the selected regime in which Imran Khan has failed in all the four provinces,” the PPP leader said.

Bilawal said the failure is written in their fate in the next round as well and it is better for Imran Khan to resign and go home.

“Victory will be of the people in Senate polls as well.”