Results show that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) retained the seat in the NA-245 by-election, with Mahmood Moulvi receiving 29,475 votes to Moid Anwar’s 16,282 votes for the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
There were 515,003 registered voters in the district overall, including 240,016 women and 274,987 men. Only 60,760 people cast ballots, comprising 19,564 women and 41,196 males.
60,336 votes were counted as genuine after 424 ballots were rejected by the presiding officers. The participation rate stayed at 11.8 percent. The Tariq Road, Lines Area, Lasbela, Jamshed Quarters, PECHS, PIB Colony, and other places in District East of Karachi made up the National Assembly constituency. The seat had become vacant after the death of PTI MNA Dr. Aamir Liaquat Hussain.
There were 17 candidates in total, however the MQM-P candidate, which is a partner of the federal government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was supported by many members of the ruling coalition parties.
Aminullah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) received 606 votes, Muhammad Danish Khan of the Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) received 425 votes, and Syed Hafeezuddin of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) received 1,081 votes.
Aamir Zia of the Aam Log Ittihad received 26, Aamir Khan of the Pak Muslim Alliance received 334 votes, Farrukh Niaz Tanuli, an independent, received 379 votes, Kiran Masood received 132 votes, Qamar Ahmad Khan received 89 votes, Hassan Sabir received 17 votes, and Sarmad Siddiqui received 11 votes.
The PTI’s success seemed increasingly clear as the results poured in. Political experts predicted that the MQM-P would be difficult for the PTI because of the backing it received from the Centre’s ruling coalition.
Contrary to predictions, the MQM-P and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) looked to be vying for the post of runner-up since, at one point during the results tabulation, the two parties were vacillating between second and third place.
The polling process started at 8:00am and continued till 5:00pm on August 21. The voting time was extended for one more hour for the polling stations 143 and 144. In a statement, the provincial election commission said the polling was held peacefully. District Returning Officer (DROs), Returning Officer (ROs) and District Monitoring Officers (DMOs) were actively visiting the polling stations.
Army personnel and Rangers were also present in the constituency. No provincial or federal ministers except voters were allowed to enter the constituency. All the candidates were treated equally.