JHANG, June 22: PML-Q candidate Sheikh Waqas Akram was unofficially declared successful in the by-election for NA-89, held here on Sunday. Mr Waqas Akram polled 51,419 votes while his closest rival Maulana Alam Tariq of the Millat-i-Islamia Pakistan (MIP) got 41,549 votes.

The third candidate, Hassan Mohiuddin, of the Pakistan Awami Tehrik could bag only 12,787 votes. The turnout was 45 per cent, considering the fact that the city and its suburbs were hit by a fierce thunderstorm at about 3pm which continued for one and a half hours. However, the polling continued uninterrupted from 8am to 5pm.

No untoward incident reportedly took place in this highly sensitive constituency. Heavy police contingents, elite force, frontier constabulary and Pak Rangers had been deployed at the polling stations.

The seat had fallen vacant after the assassination of MIP chief Maulana Azam Tariq. It is pertinent to mention here that the late Maulana had polled about 41,000 votes in the 2002 elections against 33,000 and 31,000 bagged by his opponents Allama Tahirul Qadri and Sheikh Waqas Akram respectively.

In the by-polls, Maulana Alam Tariq, the younger brother of the slain leader, got almost the same number of votes, showing no decline in the ideological vote bank of the defunct Millat-i-Islamia.

In the last general elections, the anti-Sipah vote was shared by Allama Tahirul Qadri and Sheikh Waqas Akram, which paved the way for Maulana Azam Tariq's success. But in Sunday's polls, Mr Akram got an overwhelming majority of anti-Sipah-i-Sahaba votes.

Neither reports of rigging from any of the 222 polling stations were received, nor the losers levelled allegations in this regard till the filing of this report.