Former foreign minister Khawaja Asif remained unbeaten after a recount of votes in Sialkot's NA-73 constituency on Sunday.

After Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Usman Dar requested a recount of votes in the constituency, 7,386 votes and postal ballots that were rejected in the election, were counted again.

Following the exercise, Asif remained unbeaten with 117,002 votes to Dar's 115,596 votes. Dar was defeated by a margin of 1,406 votes.

However, the PTI leader, while addressing local party workers, refused to accept defeat and continued to allege rigging at several polling stations in the Sialkot-II constituency.

PML-N heavyweight Khawaja Asif has remained unbeatable in NA-73 for the sixth consecutive time.

Recounting in four other constituencies

Recounting of ballot papers in the PP-291, PP-292, PP-285 and NA-190 constituencies began on Sunday after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) accepted multiple pleas for recounting and directed that the results be held.

PML-N candidate Mehmood Qadir Leghari had moved the ECP for a recount in PP-291; PML-N candidate Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari sought a recount in PP-292; Independent candidate Mir Badshah Qaisrani sought a recount in PP-285; and PTI candidate Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa sought a recount in NA-190.

Awais Leghari, who had contested the election on PML-N ticket, was defeated with a slim margin of 253 votes by PTI candidate Muhammed Khan, while Mahmood Qadir of the PML-N was defeated by Mohiuddin Khosa of the PTI with a margin of 1,808 votes. Similarly, PTI's Khawaja Dawood had defeated Mir Badshah Qaisrani in PP-285 with a margin of 1,528 votes.

Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa was initially declared the winner in NA-190 (Dera Ghazi Khan), but hours later the Returning Officer issued a revised Form-47 (provisional consolidated statement of results) with the note that a "clerical error" had resulted in Zulfiqar being wrongly declared the winner.

The actual winner from the constituency, as per the latest notification, was Zulfiqar's cousin, independent candidate Amjad Farooq Khosa.

Initial results showed that Zulfiqar had won by a slim margin of 115 votes, whereas according to the latest notification, Amjad won the seat with a margin of 219 votes.

Subsequently, Khosa challenged the results, saying that the second notification was issued without his presence at the time of recount.

The ECP subsequently ordered recounting under Section 5 of Article 95 of the Election Act 2017.