ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is leading in Punjab and Pakistan People’s party (PPP) in Sindh in the 2nd phase of Local Government Elections, according to early results on Thursday.
Unofficial and unverified results of 1,614 out of total 1,833 seats of districts councils in Sindh have been received thus far, according to which PPP was leading with 818 seats. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was at second position with 103 seats while independent candidates managed to bag 113 seats.
PML-N also managed to secure 62 seats in Sindh.
Meanwhile, preliminary results of 1,949 out of total 2,399 seats have been received in Punjab thus far.
The ruling PML-N emerged as the leading party again, securing 882 seats while independents remained successful in 708 seats.
PML-N’s main rivals in the province, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to bag 288 seats thus far.
Unofficial and unverified results started pouring in after polling for the second phase of Local Government Elections in 26 districts of Sindh and Punjab provinces concluded at 5:30 PM earlier in the day.
Geo News maintained its tradition of breaking the very first unverified and unofficial result before any other news channel as the largest election transmission in the country is being broadcast live from Geo’s Pakistan Election Headquarters.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced the previous day that polling had been postponed in 81 union councils of Sindh and nine in Punjab due to unlawful delimitation.
In Punjab, polling was being held in 12 districts: Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sahiwal, Attock, Jhelum, Mianwali, Chiniot, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura and Khanewal.
In Sindh, polling has been concluded in 14 districts including Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Dadu, Jamshoro, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Shaheed Benazir Abad, Naushero Feroz, Mirpur Khas, Umerkot and Tharparkar. Polling in Sanghar was postponed due to security reasons.
The ECP has established a control room for the elections, for which eight teams have been constituted for receiving complaints. The returning officers have been directed to send preliminary results through e-mail to the provincial election commissioners of the two provinces.
Polling postponed in 81 UCsECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob told media on Wednesday that the elections in 81 union councils had been postponed as per the directives of the Supreme Court.
He said that the ECP had finalised all the administrative and security measures to ensure a fair polling process. He said that the elections had been postponed in five municipal committees, 18 town committees and 58 union councils of different cities of Sindh.
He said that the decision to delay the elections was taken in an ECP meeting held under the chairmanship of the chief election commissioner. These constituencies included 24 UCs of the Hyderabad Division, 25 UCs of Mirpur Khas and 32 UCs of Shaheed Benazir Abad.
He said that the elections in these union councils and municipal committees would be held after the third phase of LG polls following fresh delimitation exercise.
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