The ruling PTI lost two National Assembly (NA) seats won in the July 25 general election by prime minister (NA-131 Lahore, and NA-35 Bannu), one NA seat won by Tahir Sadiq (NA-56 Attock), and Punjab Assembly seats won by Fawad Chaudhry (PP-12 Jhelum) and Mohamed Khan (PP-92 Dera Ghazi Khan) and two Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seats in Swat.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that although PTI had lost some of its seats, it bagged the highest number of votes, more than 1.1mn, followed by 800,000 secured by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“The PTI and its ally the PML-Q clinched 17 seats of the National and Provincial Assemblies, while the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) won 11 seats,” he added.
In reply to a question, he said that Prime Minister Khan was unhappy over the loss of seven party seats.
Khan had won all five NA seats he had contested in – Islamabad, Bannu, Mianwali, Lahore, and Karachi – in the July 25 elections.
He retained the Mianwali seat.
Pakistan allows candidates to run in multiple constituencies, but keep only one seat.
In the by-elections, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)’s Zahid Akram Durrani, son of Akram Durrani, won the Bannu seat, whereas PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique clinched the NA-131 Lahore seat.
The PML-N upset the PTI by clinching the NA-56 (Attock) seat with a clear margin.
The seat had been vacated by the PTI’s Tahir Sadiq, who had also won the other NA seat from the district in the general elections.
In Dera Ghazi Khan, PML-N leader Awais Khan Leghari won the Punjab Assembly (PP-3) seat by defeating the PTI’s Maqsood Leghari.
The KP Assembly (PK-78) seat, where elections could not take place on July 25 due to the killing of Awami National Party (ANP) leader Haroon Bilour, has been won by his widow despite the fact that the National Assembly seat in the same constituency had been won by the PTI.
Meanwhile, the strengthened Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) is likely to seek another federal government ministry.
In the Sunday by-elections, the scions of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, Moonis Elahi (son of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi) and Salik Hussain (son of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain) won from Gujrat (NA-69) and Chakwal (NA-65) with a margin of more than 50,000 and 65,000 votes, respectively.
They are joining their third cousin Hussain Elahi (son of Wajahat Hussain) in parliament.
Hussain Elahi is the youngest parliamentarian in the National Assembly.
The PML-Q now has five seats in the National Assembly.
The party’s Tariq Bashir Cheema is in the federal housing ministry.
Now, after winning two more NA seats, the PML-Q may lay claim to another ministry at the Centre.
“We are a coalition partner of the PTI government, and after bagging two more NA seats, we expect to have another ministry at the Centre. We will talk to the PTI leadership in this regard as both coalition partners had also worked out modalities earlier without any problem,” said PML-Q central information secretary, former senator Kamil Ali Agha.
Moonis Elahi, who has been in politics for many years and also remained a member of the Punjab Assembly twice, is expected to lead his cousins and will be the ultimate choice of the party for the ministry if the coalition partners reach an understanding.
Salik Hussain and Hussain Elahi contested for the first time in the 2018 general elections and won.
Both Chaudhry Shujaat and Wajahad Hussain had earlier decided to contest on Chakwal and Gujrat seats, respectively (in by-polls and general elections), but later withdrew, announcing that it was time their young ones should come forward (in politics).
“The Chaudhry brothers have decided to field their young ones in the political arena and take the party forward. As all three young cousins are educated and energetic, the party pins great hope in them to work for betterment of the country and strengthening the party,” Agha said.
The former senator said that a good number of PML-N members would join the PML-Q in coming days.
“Our complete focus is on re-organisation of the party and the response we are getting from the people across the country is very encouraging,” he said, adding that the Chaudhrys would visit different districts, especially in Punjab, in this respect.
The PML-Q has 10 seats in the Punjab Assembly and it has been given the speaker’s slot by the PTI.
The PTI leadership has reportedly asked the Chaudhrys to create a “silent forward-bloc” in the opposition PML-N to keep it unsettled.
In the last three polls held within parliament, more than a dozen PML-N lawmakers violated the party policy in the Senate, speaker and presidential elections, either giving votes to the PTI/PML-Q candidates, or discarded their votes.