LAHORE   -   In what seems to be a continu­ation of the July 17 by-elections trend, the PML-N has lost two out of three Punjab Assembly seats in the by-elections while the PTI improved its tally in the Punjab Assembly from existing 178 to 180 in the house of 371. 

All the three provincial seats had been vacated by the PML-N candidates just before the July 17 by-elections in Punjab.At the federal level, the PTI also lost one National Assembly seat from Punjab (NA-157) while re­taining two in the by-elections held on three national assem­bly and an equal number of pro­vincial assembly seats. 

Out of the three National As­sembly constituencies where by-election was held, two fell vacant due to resignations of the PTI members while one got vacated due to the election of one its MNAs on a Punjab Assembly seat. The PPP, on the other hand, won a National Assembly seat (NA-157) vacated by PTI candidate Zain Qureshi. According to the unofficial results, Ali Musa Gilani, the joint candidate of the PPP and the PML, defeated Mehr Bano Qureshi of the PTI by securing 79,743 votes in NA-157 (Multan). Mehr Bano bagged 59,993 votes. 

This seat fell vacant after Zain Qureshi of the PTI got elected to a provincial seat in the July 17 elections. In 2018, Zain Qureshi had won the seat se­curing 77,313 votes. Ali Musa Gilani of the PPP had then got 70,778, while Malik Ghaffar Dogar of the PML-N obtained 62,082 votes at that time. In NA-108 (Faisalabad), the PTI chief Imran Khan defeated Abid Sher Ali of the PML-N. Khan secured 99,602 votes as against 75,131 of the PML-N candidate. Far­rukh Habib of the PTI had won this seat securing 112,182 votes in the 2018 elections. Abid Sher Ali of the PML-N had then secured 110,907 votes. Shehbaz Ali Gulzar of TLP stood third securing 7,992 votes in 2018 general elections.

In NA-118 (Nankana Sahib), Imran Khan of the PTI defeat­ed Shezra Mansab Ali Khan Kharral of the PML-N. The PTI chairman secured 90,180 votes while Shezra Manzab got 78,024 votes. Brig (R) Ejaz Shah of the PTI had won this seat in the 2018 elections as he obtained 63,818 votes. He had then defeated Shezra Manzab Ali of the PML-N who got 61,413 votes. Syed Afzaal Hussain Rizvi of the TLP got 49,345 votes in the 2018 elec­tions while Shah Jahan Bhatti of PPP got 18,726 votes. In PP-139 (Sheikhupura), Ch Iftikhar Ahmad Bhangoo of the PML-N defeated Muhammad Abu Bakr of the PTI by securing 40,829 votes. The PTI candidate bagged 37712 votes.

This seat became vacant when Jalil Sharqpuri of the PML-N re­signed just before the July 17 by-elections. In the 2018 elec­tions, Sharqpuri won this seat by obtaining 31,1010 votes as Jahanzeb Rao of the PTI was the runner up with 27,153 votes. Rauf Ch of TLP got 17,867 votes in the 2018 elections. In PP-209-Khanewal, Faisal Niazi of the PTI secured 71,586 votes and defeated Ch Ziaur Rehman of the PML-N who got 57,864 votes. Faisal proved himself to be a strong electable from Khanewal by retaining his seat, this time contesting from the PTI ticket. In 2018 general elec­tions, Niazi had obtained 55,273 votes while contesting on the PML-N ticket. His opponent, Ab­dul Razzaq of the PTI had then got 39,064 votes while Jamil Shah, an independent candidate, had bagged 25,759 votes. 

Faisal Niazi resigned before CM’s April 16 election, but his resignation was accepted by the speaker on July 16, a day before the July 17 by-elections. In PP-202 (Bahawalnagar), Mo­hammad Muzaffar Khan of the PTI defeated Amanullah Sattar of the PML-N securing 59,957 votes. The PML-N candidate bagged 48,147 votes. This seat fell vacant due to the disquali­fication of Kashif Mahmood of the PML-N for having a fake Bachelor’s degree. He won this seat in 2018 elections by secur­ing 49,005 votes, Muzaffar Khan of the PTI was the runner up at that time with 44,737 votes.