ISLAMABAD: The Election Com­m­ission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday declared PML-N leader and former minister of state for water and power Abid Sher Ali as a winner of Senate by-election from Punjab.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N parliamentary leader in the Senate Irfan ul Haq Siddiqui. The notification came a day after Abid Sher Ali was summoned by a five-member bench of ECP over alleged violation of the ballot secrecy during the PP-116, Faisalabad by-election last month.

Mr Ali’s video while casting vote inside the polling station went viral on social media. The footage showed him stamping his ballot paper, a legal offence under the law. During the proceedings, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja had observed that bringing mobile phone inside a polling station and stamping ballot paper publicly were two separate offences.

The ECP also notified Agha Shahbaz Ali Durrani as the returned candidate for Sindh Assembly’s PS-9 Shikarpur. Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians candidate Agha Durrani won the PS-9 Shikarpur-III by-election held on December 14, according to the official notification.

Rejects claims Form 47 for NA-18 was prepared in Islamabad and not issued by returning officer

Mr Durrani, son of former Sindh Assembly speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani, emerged successful in the contest securing 72,964 votes. Maulana Rashidullah Shah of JUI-Pakistan, the closest rival, could manage to get only 9,489 votes. Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan candidate could bag just 1,765 votes. A total of 88,017 votes were cast across 178 polling stations, with a voter turnout of 31.68pc. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of Agha Siraj Durrani.

Haripur by-election

Meanwhile, the ECP rejected the claims that the Form 47 for by-poll in NA-18, Haripur, was prepared in Islamabad and not issued by the returning officer (RO) concerned.

“A particular group is criticising the Haripur by-election as usual to put pressure on the Election Commission, which will prove to be an exercise in futility. Even today, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa spokesperson Shafi Jan has made baseless allegations regarding the election process that Form 47 was issued from Islamabad instead of the Returning Officer,” an ECP spokesman said.

He said the commission categorically rejected this allegation, as Form 47 was prepared and issued by the RO in the Haripur by-election, and that he sent this form to the ECP at 3:16am on Nov 24, and the district returning officer also provided the same result to the ECP six minutes after.

He said the commission uploaded this form on its website at 4:28am. In addition, the returning officer sent Form 48 and Form 49 to the commission on Nov 26.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2025