GUJRAT, March 29 The razor-thin victory of the PML-N in the by-election for PP-111 (Gujrat) should not give any satisfaction to the ruling party in Punjab.

The results of the 2002 and 2008 general elections and now of the by-elections clearly showed that the PML-N could win the PP-111 only with the support of the PPP.

According to official results of 2002 general elections, Mian Imran Masood of the PML-Q had obtained 22,392 votes, Mian Fakhar Pagganwala of the PPP got 20,727 votes while Nadeem Abbas of the PML-N could manage 9,029 votes only in PP-111.

In 2008 elections, Haji Nasir Mehmood of the PML-N bagged 25,567 votes, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar of the PPP got 16,625 votes and Mian Imran Masood of the PML-Q could gather 13,341 votes.

While in the current by-elections, Haji Imran Zafar of the PML-N clinched 26,519 votes against PML-Q Mian Imran Masood's 23,475 votes from 111 out of total 112 polling stations of the constituency.

The way the Chaudhrys of Gujrat contested the elections by involving all their male, female and young family members into the campaign till the polling day only showed their determination to win over their supporters.

Chaudhry Moonis Elahi and former district Nazim Chaudhry Shafaat Hussain had even performed the duty as polling agents which the people of Gujrat had never witnessed in the last 30 years.

Their hard efforts during the election campaign had contributed greatly in bringing back their voters who had expressed their anger with the Chaudhrys in 2008 elections.

The Chaudhrys utilized all their resources in the by-polls which helped PML-Q nominee Mian Imran Masood increase immensely his vote bank from previous 13,341 to 23,475 votes.

Some political analysts opined that it were the voters of the Muslim League who had been shifting their loyalties between the two factions of the League. In the 2008 general elections, they put their weight behind the Nawaz faction and in the current by-election they returned to the Q faction.

The reason for the shifting of voters towards the Chaudhrys is the indifferent attitude of the PML-N leadership as the Sharif brothers have not paid any visit to Gujtrat for two years.

As the PPP did not field its candidate, almost half of its voters did not return to polling stations. However, a majority of PPP voters extended their support to the PML-N candidate. Most of the polling agents of Haji Imran Zafar were from the PPP as the PML-N had requested the PPP to help the party in this respect. The public meetings arranged by the PPP in favour of the PML-N candidate attracted almost double crowd than the meetings arranged by the Nawaz League. The provincial leadership of the Nawaz League, who remained present in Gujrat for the two weeks during the election campaign, also admitted this fact.

The local chapter of the PML-N could not even celebrate its victory as the PML-Q started protest demonstrations in Gujrat against what the party called rigged by-polls.

The leadership of the Nawaz League, who had left Gujrat hours before the start of the polling, did not even bother to return to the city.

Some local leaders said that PML-N leaders Sirdar Zulfiqar Khosa, MNA Khawaja Saad Rafique and Senator Pervaiz Rasheed had left Gujrat on the polling day so that the PML-Q could not level allegations against them for influencing the polling process.