Vote recount underway in NA-154
PTI has emerged as the 3rd largest party after the PML-N and PPP in the National Assembly.
LODHRAAN (Dunya News) - The Election Commission of Pakistan is recounting the polled votes in NA-154 constituency, where, according to the last final tally, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s candidate had been defeated by an independent by ten thousand votes.
PTI, which has emerged as the third largest party after the PML-N and PPP in the National Assembly in recent elections, is raising its voice against alleged rigging in several constituencies, especially NA-154 Lodhraan-I, where the election commission has finally agreed to a recount of votes. Seasoned parliamentarian Jahangir Tareen was PTI’s candidate from NA-154 and was defeated by an independent candidate, Muhammad Saddique Khan Baloch, with the lead of ten thousand votes.
Tareen bagged 75,814 votes against Saddique Baloch’s 86,046, according to the official result. According to the data provided by the election commission on its website, NA-154 is a city seat of Lodhran District where total of 370,150 votes were registered – 205,433 male and 164,717 female voters. The election commission set up 304 polling stations and 760 polling booths in the constituency. There were 304 presiding officers and 1520 assistant presiding officers along with 760 polling officers who conducted the electoral process on the polling day.
Earlier, Tareen said that he was the winner in the initial results received from more than 200 polling stations in the constituency, and even the independent TV channels had declared him victorious on the election day, but in the morning, he was declared as defeated with 10,000 votes after rigging in the midnight. He asserted that after the vote recount he would be declared as winner in the constituency.
