June 27, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1429

DERA GHAZI KHAN, June 26: Punjab PML-N president Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa won PP-243 by defeating the candidate of Leghari group.

The seat was vacated by Khosa’s son Saiffuddin Khan Khosa who retained NA-173. After the withdrawal of the graduation bar, the elderly Khosa decided to return to the assembly .

His rival was Mohammed Khan Leghari, son of district nazim Maqsood Ahmed Khan Leghari.

The polling on 102 polling stations was held peacefully. Some presiding officers and assistant presiding officers reportedly filed written complaints against the forcible casting of bogus votes by the cronies of provincial minister for local bodies Dost Mohammed Khan Khosa, also a son of the winning candidate .

According to the results of 99 out of 102 polling stations, Khosa had obtained over 27,000 votes against Mohammed Khan Leghari’s 12,230.

BAHAWALNAGAR: PML-N candidate Fidaur Rehman Kaloka defeated PPP’s Tariq Usman in the by-election to PP-277.

The PML-N candidate bagged 34,382 votes while the PPP candidate could manage 23,778 votes.

The seat was vacated by Khadim Hussain Kaloka of PML-Q who retained NA-188. Khadim has now joined the PML-Q forward block. From this seat he managed a PML-N ticket for his younger brother Fidaur Rehman Kaloka.

SIALKOT: Pakistan Muslim League-N candidate Rana Shamim Ahmed knocked out his rival PML-Q candidate Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali Ghumman with a wide margin of 22,000 votes in the by-poll for the PP-124 seat.

According to unofficial results, Rana Shamim secured 24, 994 votes while his close rival Zulfiqar Ghumman could obtain only 3,023 votes.

The winning candidate, Rana Shamim Ahmed, is the father of PML-N MNA Rana Abdul Sattar.

The turnout remained low --18 per cent -- largely due to hot and humid weather which kept the voters away from the polling stations.