QUETTA: Jamiat Ulema-Islam (JUI-F) candidate Syed Azizullah Agha won the by-election of Balo-chistan Assembly’s vacant seat of PB-20 (Pishin-III) with a massive majority against his rival Asmatullah Tareen of ruling Balochistan Awami Party on Tuesday.

According to official results received late into the night, Mr Agha obtained 16,086 votes while Mr Tareen could get only 2,963 votes.

The JUI-F candidate enjoyed the support of all political parties which are part of the Pakistan Democ-ratic Movement alliance.

The Awami National Party (ANP), which is also part of the opposition alliance, withdrew its candidate Syed Abdul Bari in favour of the JUI-F candidate.

BAP candidate Mr Tareen was enjoying the support of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, JUI-N and some other small groups.

Over half a dozen other candidates were also contesting the by-election, but they could show no significant performance. The seat had fallen vacant on the death of former governor and MPA Syed Fazal Agha last year due to coronavirus. Mr Agha had been elected on the JUI-F ticket in 2018 general elections.

The polling, which began at 8am and ended at 5pm, continued without any interval and remained peaceful except one clash which took place outside the polling station.

Three people were injured in the clash between supporters of the two main candidates. Reports suggested that the vehicle of Mr Tareen was damaged by his rival candidate’s supporters.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2021