Punjab By-elections 2022
The 2022 Punjab by-elections were to be held on 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly, due to the de-seating of 20 PTI MPAs after they undertook floor crossing to vote for Humza Shebaz in the election of Punjab’s CM on April 16th, 2022. The Election Commission of Pakistan announced on 25 May 2022 that the by-elections would be held on 17 July 2022. A total of 330 nomination papers were filed in 20 constituencies of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. The competition was between PDM backed PML-N and PML-Q backed PTI, with the latter requiring 13 seats to form a majority, and the former requiring 9 seats to keep its current majority. Of the 20 seats according to unofficial results PTI won 15 seats, PML-N won 4 seats, and 1 seat was won by an independent candidate. Breakdown of seats with winning candidates lead (where lead is missing results are still being fromalized):
PP-7 Rawalpindi won by Raja Sagheer Ahmed (PML-N) with a lead of 49 votes
• PP-83 Khushab won by Hasan Aslam Awan (PTI) with a lead of 7162 votes
• PP-90 Bhakkar won by Irfanullah Niazi (PTI) with a lead of 11352 votes
• PP-97 Faisalabad won by Ali Afzal Sahi (PTI) with a lead of 12756 votes
• PP- 125 Jhang won by Mian Muhammad Azam Cheela (PTI)
• PP- 127 Jhang Won byMuhammad Nawaz Bharwana (PTI) with a lead of 24235 votes
• PP- 140 Sheikhupura won by Khurram Virk (PTI)
• PP- 158 Lahore won by Mian Akram Usman (PTI)
• PP- 167 Lahore won by Ch Nadeem iqbal Gujjar (PTI) with a lead of 14038 votes
• PP- 168 Lahore won by Malik Asad Ali Khokhar (PML-N)
• PP- 170 Lahore won by Zaheer Abbas Khokhar (PTI) with a lead of 7169 votes
• PP-202 Sahiwal won by Major (R) Ghulam Sarwar(PTI) with a lead of 3107 votes
• PP-217 Multan won by Zain Qureshi (PTI) with a lead of 6924 votes
• PP-224 Lodhran won by Amir Iqbal Shah (PTI) with a lead of 13667 votes
• PP-228 Lodhran won by Syed Rafi Uddin (Independent)
• PP-237 Bahawalnagar won by Mian Fida Hussain Wattoo (PML-N)
• PP-272 Muzaffargarh won by Mozzam Khan Jatoi (PTI) with a lead of 9668 votes
• PP-273 Muzaffargarh won by Syed Muhammad Sibtain Raza (PML-N)
• PP-282 Layyah won by Qaiser Abbas Magsi (PTI)
• PP-288 Dera Ghazi Khan won by Saif Khosa (PTI) with a lead of 25954 votes
Unlike previous by-elections, the voter turnout in this iteration broke all previous records. According to records, a maximum of 25-30% of voters would end up voting in a by-election, whereas this time a staggering 49.69% voter turnout was recorded by the Election commission of Pakistan. PP-90 Bhakkar – II recording 65.86% voter turnout.
Of the total 4,579,898 registered voters in the 20 constituencies, PTI was able to secure 1,034,526 (46.8%) votes and PML-N secured 800,368 (39.5%). This result establishes that the voters didn’t like the unpopular decisions of the PML-N both on economic and political fronts: allowing the inflationary trend to continue to ward off an economic meltdown and giving its tickets to PTI ‘turncoats’ . All the seats the PTI claimed on July 17 either directly belonged to the party or were won by the independents who later joined it during the government formation process.
There were some instances of unrest during the elections, an armed clash between rival political parties in Sheikhupura led to the death of a boy while multiple other individuals were injured. In Lahore’s PP- 168, PTI senior leader Fawad Chaudhry was attacked while he was visiting the constituency resulting in the damage to his vehicle.
The result of PTI winning majority seats in the by
election is that they and their allies PML-Q now have a majority in the Punjab Assembly, and this means the current Speaker of Punjab Assembly Ch Parvez Elahi is all set to win the Punjab Chief Minister re-polling on July 22nd, 2022. PTI’s actions going forth will shape the political atmosphere for the coming future and will also decide the fate of the current PML-N and PDM alliance Federal Government, and when the next general elections will be held.
The 2022 Punjab by-elections were to be held on 20 vacant seats of the Punjab Assembly, due to the de-seating of 20 PTI MPAs after they undertook floor crossing to vote for Humza Shebaz in the election of Punjab’s CM on April 16th, 2022. The Election Commission of Pakistan announced on 25 May 2022 that the by-elections would be held on 17 July 2022. A total of 330 nomination papers were filed in 20 constituencies of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. The competition was between PDM backed PML-N and PML-Q backed PTI, with the latter requiring 13 seats to form a majority, and the former requiring 9 seats to keep its current majority. Of the 20 seats according to unofficial results PTI won 15…
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