CHAKWAL: PTI has won five out of the six seats in the Chakwal district, with the help of its ally, PML-Q.

PML-N has managed to retain one provincial seat in the area, which has been its fortress since 1985.

The much delayed unofficial results, which were announced on Thursday instead of Wednesday, invited much controversy.

According to the unofficial results, PTI’s Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Dullah defeated PML-N’s retired Maj Tahir Iqbal in NA-64 by securing 155,214 votes against Mr Iqbal’s 13,051 Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Syed Tassaduq Manzoor got 13,719 votes while PPP’s Malik Jabbar Ahmed Chilla got 8,241. Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek’s Abdul Nisar got 1,981 votes while Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) Syed Imran Hussain Bukhari got 1,310 votes. A local journalist who had to lose his job with a TV channel to get into politics, Chaudhry Imran Qaiser Abbas only got 557 votes. He was contesting on the ticket of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Nazriyat while another local journalist, Mohammad Tufail founded his own party by the name of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaniat but only secured 98 votes.

Puktoonkhwa Milli Party’s Aaj Mohammad got 101 votes.

Mr Dullah managed to get elected as MNA in his maiden effort and has served as a PML-N MPA during the last government.

PTI’s Raja Yasir Humayun won in PP-21 by securing 77,425 votes. This will be his first time as MPA. His rival Sultan Haider Ali Khan got 65,456 votes.

TLP’s Syed Tassaduq Manzoor got 6,447 votes and PPP had not fielded a candidate. Mohammad Ayub of Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek obtained 2,321 votes.

PML-N’s Tanveer Aslam Malik won in PP-22 after securing 73,104 votes while PTI’s Tariq Mehmood Afzal got 70,322.

Tanveer Aslam Malik has remained a powerful provincial minister and was known as the Shahnshah-i-Tameerat or the king of constructions as he carried out a number of uplift projects in his constituency the last five years.

His rival Tariq Mehmood Afzal has filed an application for recounting.

PPP’s Raja Mohammad Rizwan got 8,105 votes and TLP’s Husnain Mehmood Shah got 7,016.

PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervez Elahi won in NA-65 by securing 157.497 votes against PML-N’s Mohammad Faiz Malik’s 106,081.

Mr Elahi was a joint candidate of PML-Q and PTI and also had the support of Sardar Mumtaz Tamman, a former PML-N MNA.

Sardar Mansoor Hayat Tamman, who contested independently after defying his party’s alliance with PML-Q got 11,049 votes and TLP’s Mohammad Yaqub got 23,839 votes. PPP’s Hasham Khan got 3,250.

In PP-23, PTI’s Sardar Aftab Akbar defeated PML-N’s Mushtaq Ahmed by securing 77,949 votes against PML-N’s Musthtaq Ahmed’s 45,360. TLP’s Hussain secured 15,783 votes. Aftab Akbar got elected as MPA for the first time.

PML-Q’s Ammar Yasir also became MPA for the first time by securing 8,1005 votes in PP-24 against PML-N’s Shehryar Malik’s 62,804. Mr Yasir also had the support of PTI and former PML-N MNA Sardar Mumtaz Khan Tamman.

TLP’s Abdul Ghafoor got 9,793 votes while PTI rebel Faisal Shah got 5,699 votes.

PML-N’s Faiz Malik congratulated the winners on his Facebook page while Sultan Haider Ali Khan said the results were unexpected.

PTI’s Zulfiqar Ali Khan and Raja Yasir Humayun said their victory is a new beginning for Chakwal and vowed to change its fate.

Returning Officer Javed Iqbal Bosal and District Election Commissioner Abdul Razaq told Dawn the elections had been conducted peacefully in the district.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2018