News Analysis |
General Elections of 2018 have stirred up the emotions of various political party members as shocking defeats are witnessed.
Read more: Elections 2018: Who is winning & how much?
As general public witness’s unofficial results in an attempt to see “Naya Pakistan” unfold, many candidates habitual of winning in their respective constituencies are facing stinging losses.
Nisar Ali Khan
Chaudhry Nisar a former known member of PML-N, contesting as an independent candidate is losing against Ghulam Sarwar Khan from PTI with a total of 8,500 versus 16,200 votes, in NA-59, Rawalpindi.
Chaudhry Nisar who switched parties from IJI to PMLN and worked under many political leaders had previously won 8 times from NA-52, (Rawalpindi III). He had been winning since 1985-2013 until he came face to face with his shocking defeat.
Prior to this defeat, he had only lost once from NA-53 in 2002; however, he had won from NA-52 that year. He also lost from Taxila in 2013 to PTI.
Unofficial announcements indicate that 64% of polling is recorded for, in NA-63 where Ghulam Sarwar Khan (PTI) is leading with a total of 63,729 votes with Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan (independent) attempting to catch up with 40,778 votes.
Rana Sanaullah
Rana Sanaullah, a powerful member of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) contesting from NA-106 Faisalabad lost to Nisar Ahmed Jutt with a total of 55,405 votes whereas Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Just secured 57,300 votes. Time and again, Sanaullah has been involved in controversies, including the Model Town incident and numerous incidents where his tongue and apparently “dirty speech” brought him to trouble. Sanaullah termed Babar Awan as ‘Wajibul Qatal’ (liable to be killed) on account of corruption charges in 2011.
Most controversial figure of Punjab Govt…Rana Sanaullah loses his Faisalabad seat. End of an era? #justice4modeltown
— Najma Minhas (@MinhasNajma) July 26, 2018
Twitter was quite happy with the results.
What a day. When you wake up to the News of Rana Sanaullah’s Loss.
— Rabia Anum Obaid (@RabiaAnumm) July 26, 2018
In all of this, I'm just glad Rana Sanaullah lost and will not be in the assembly. That made me happy and then I saw Amir Liaquat winning. There goes the happiness… #ElectionPakistan2018
— Ali Gul Pir (@Aligulpir) July 26, 2018
https://twitter.com/RezaAli1980/status/1022190919733465088
Unofficial announcements indicated that in NA-156, Nisar Jutt secured 44,437 votes surpassing Sanaullah who received 43,838 votes.
Khawaja Saad Rafique
Khawaja Saad Rafiq representing PML-N, contesting in NA-131 against Imran Khan, the premiere of PTI, has never faced defeat in any of his prior elections since 1997.
Read more: Elections 2018: A massive political exercise
Interestingly Imran Khan, captain of PTI had never won from Lahore despite contesting from the metropolitan in 1997, 2002 and 2013. In the 2013 general elections, Imran won from all the seats he was contesting but once again, amid allegations of riggings, lost the polls from NA-122 to Ayaz Sadiq
Saad Rafique raised suspicions over the emerging delimitations by saying that his old constituency was split into 3 constituencies only to provide an added benefit to PTI in the newly formed constituency in Lahore, which was allegedly crafted for the sole purpose of Imran Khan.
His further reservations were expressed in this tweet from last night,
پچھلے دس گھنٹے سے این اے 131 کا رزلٹ حاصل کرنے کے لئے خجل خوار ھو رھے ھیں
الیکشن کمشن نے نتائج دو بجے شب تک دینے کا اعلان کیا تھا
غیر معمولی تاخیر کا ذمہ دار کون ھے ؟؟؟؟
— Khawaja Saad Rafique (@KhSaad_Rafique) July 26, 2018
What’s been going on so far indicates that PTI has indeed gathered the support which it had been longing for many years.
Unofficial results indicate statistical data which indicate the imminent victory of PTI; however, the battle isn’t won until promises are lived up to. Many citizens were heard voting for PTI for the sole reason of testing whether he’ll live up to his promises or not.
However, that’s a story for another time. Until then stay tuned for more updates.