NAUSHAHRO FEROZE: Adviser to the Chief Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar bagged over 33,000 votes in the boycott-hit by-election for the PS-23 seat for which polling was held on Tuesday, according to unofficial results received till late in the evening.

It was a one-sided contest as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PPP) candidate Ismail Korai and an independent candidate, Riaz Hussain Korai, boycotted the by-election.

There were 106 polling stations in the constituency out of which 21 were declared ‘sensitive’. However, the polling process remained by and large peaceful as activists, voters and supporters of rival parties did not show up.

According to the results of 72 polling stations unofficially declared till the filing of this report, PPP candidate Mr Lanjar secured 33,174 votes.

In the 2013 general elections, the PS-23 seat was won by National Peoples Party candidate Masroor Jatoi, the son of former caretaker prime minister the late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. His election was challenged by the losing candidate, Feroze Khan Jamali of the PPP.

The litigation ended when the Supreme Court ordered by-election for the seat. Masroor Jatoi did not file his nomination papers and the PPP awarded its ticket to Ziaul Hassan Lanjar.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2016