PTI challenges results of NA-120 by-election

LAHORE (NNI): The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday challenged the results of NA-120 by-election in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

PTI candidate Dr Yasmeen Rashid, who lost the crucial by-election in Lahore to Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, filed a petition in the ECP calling for a probe into what she said massive irregularities in the by-election.

Dr Yasmeen Rashid submitted in the petition that the ruling party consistently breached the code of conduct for the by-election issued by the electoral body.

She complained that there were more than 30, 000 unverified voters in the NA-120 Lahore constituency, whereas the issue of transfer of voters also remained unresolved.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for NA-120 Kulsoom Nawaz had won the National Assembly seat vacated after the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court in the Panama Papers case.

Kulsoom had secured 59,413 votes, while Dr Yasmeen Rashid, had come second with 46,145 votes, losing the seat to the former with a margin of 13, 268.

Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoob — an independent candidate backed by Jamaat-ud-Dawa’s (JuD) unregistered political party Milli Muslim League (MML) — got more votes than the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Jamat Islami (JI) candidates.