KARACHI, Aug 22(ABC): PTI has retained the NA-245 seat of Karachi on Sunday in the by-poll held for the election of the constituency’s new lawmaker after the seat fell vacant following the death of Aamir Liaquat Hussain, who was elected on a PTI ticket in 2018.
The polling process started at 8am and continued till 5pm today (Sunday). However, the polling time was extended by an hour at Polling Stations 55, 143 and 144.
Aamir Liaquat beat Dr Farooq Sattar in 2018 after securing 56,673 votes.
Unofficial results from 263 polling stations showed PTI’s Mehmood Maulvi secured the seat with 29,475 votes.
MQM-P’s Mueed Anwar was in second with 13,193 votes, TLP’s Muhammed Ahmed Raza secured 9,836 votes, Farooq Sattar bagged 3,479 votes and MQM-H came last with 1,177 votes.
As per the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) the voter turnout was 11.8% in the by-poll.
The polling for the by-poll was held amid strict security on the 263 polling stations. Out of the 263, 60 were declared sensitive and 203 most sensitive.
The by-poll in this constituency was scheduled for July 27, however, the ECP postponed the election owing to the lashing rains in the metropolis.
PTI leader Ali Zaidi said that results showed who the people of Karachi are supporting.
“This was a difficult contest due to the rains. The whole city is destroyed yet people came out to vote,” said the PTI leader.
