LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) retained on Friday the PP-168 seat after re-counting of 33 polling stations on the plea by PML-N candidate Rana Khalid.

The vote margin increased as PML-N’s candidate lost 22 more votes, while PTI’s eight votes were rejected, Returning Officer Raham Zada Khan told Dawn.

PTI’s Malik Asad Khokhar won the by-election with a margin of around 700 votes as he secured 17,579 votes. PML-N’s Khalid bagged 16,892 votes.

Since it was a close margin, Mr Khalid applied for recount of votes polled at 33 polling stations, of 83 polling stations.

Both candidates and their lawyers remained at the Punjab Election Commission office for the re-count of votes. The by-election for PP-168 was held on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018