LAHORE  -   Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf candidate Malik Asad Ali Khokar on Thursday defeated Rana Khalid Qadri of the PML-N by a narrow margin of 687 votes in a by-election held in PP-168 (Lahore).

Asad Khokar who earlier lost to Afzal Khokar of the PML-N in the last general election on a national seat from Lahore, secured 17579 votes as against 16892 of Rana Khalid. Sajid Mehmood of Tehreek-e-Labbaik ended up securing only 1049 votes while the PPP had announced to support the PML-N candidate in this election.

The seat fell vacant after election of Khawaja Saad Rafique as MNA in a by-election held in NA-131 (Lahore). PTI chief Imran Khan had vacated this seat after taking oath against another seat from Mianwali. 

The turnout remained on the lower side as the parties failed to mobilise the electorate. 

In the last general elections, Khawaja Saad had won this seat (PP-168) securing 34119 votes as against 14940 of his rival Muhammad Fayyaz Bhatti of the PTI.

After this win, the PTI now has got 181 members in a House of 371 though the fate of one provincial seat still hangs in the balance.

The House will become complete when Ch Nisar Ali Khan takes oath of his Assembly membership.

The PML-N is the second largest party in the Punjab Assembly with 167 members, followed by the PML-Q and the PPP who have 10 and seven members respectively. Besides one member of Rah-e-Haq Party, the provincial House also has four independents.

Though the PTI’s victory in by election has not significantly altered the party position in the Punjab Assembly, it will have a moral boosting effect on the PTI workers who recently saw defeat of their candidate in NA-131, a seat vacated by their leader Imran Khan. 

Meanwhile, PTI workers celebrated the victory of Malik Asad Khokar as the news became a top trend on the twitter.