NA-133 election Won by PML-N, with only 18% Voter Turnout
In general elections 2018, PPP got 5,000 votes from constituency, now it has collected 32,000 votes by backing up
Shaista Pervez Malik of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won the by-election in NA-133 constituency of Lahore. Turnout was very low. PTI leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema has said that the holding of by-polls was called into question due to low turnout.
In Lahore National Assembly seat NA-133, a contest was held on Sunday, December 5, between the traditional rivals PML-N and PPP. The people of the constituency, which was ruled out of the election by the ruling party PTI, showed no interest in the by-elections.
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Polling for the NA-133 by-election began at 8 am and continued uninterrupted till 5 pm when the turnout was almost non-existent in the morning. Political party workers were seen transporting people from their homes to the polling stations to cast their votes along with transport services, but the turnout in the by-elections was still very low.
254 polling stations were set up for 440,485 voters in the constituency. In which 233558 male and 206927 female voters were included but the cast cast total votes were 81895, in which 50936 male, 30959 female and 898 votes were rejected thus the turnout of votes was 18.59%.
As the turnout dwindled, the League and PPP candidates also appeared upset. PML-N leader Hamza Shahbaz telephoned the party leaders and instructed them to reach the polling stations from their homes. However, after the election results came out, Hamza Shahbaz also demanded a report from the leaders on low turnout. On the other hand, Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also continued to monitor the election process.
Commenting on the low turnout, Shahbaz Gul, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Political Affairs, tweeted:
Only 18% of the total 440,400 votes were cast. With the remaining 82% of the votes not cast, it became clear that even if Khan was not in the fray, the Pakistani people would not be ready to give a majority vote to these parties but now they are less than 10 to 15%. N and pp are considered almost equal
2/2– Dr. Shahbaz GiLL (HSHABAZGIL) December 6, 2021
The Election Commission of NA-133 has also received unofficial results of all 254 polling stations.
According to the unofficial results of NA-133, PML-N candidate Shaista Pervaiz Malik got 46811 votes and was declared the winner. Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Aslam Gul came second with 32313 votes while independent candidate Haseebullah came third with 650 votes. A total of 11 candidates contested in the by-elections.
In NA-133, PTI leader Jamshed Iqbal Cheema criticized both the parties for the low turnout in the by-elections and said in his statement that the low turnout proved that the people rejected the by-elections. The extremely low turnout called into question the conduct of the by-elections. The people did not cast their votes in protest against the removal of PTI from the field. By-elections have no status without the involvement of the largest political party. The people, disregarding the by-elections, rejected the glitter of the notes of both the parties. Voters deserve praise for truly respecting the vote, regardless.
It may be mentioned that the NA-133 seat from Lahore was vacated due to the death of PML-N’s Pervez Malik.
Commenting on the low turnout in the NA-133 by-election, analysts said that due to the absence of PTI in the by-election, the voter turnout was low or the people wanted to flee from the election stage. He said that one of the reasons could be that the people are fed up with the democratic process or the PML-N voters are angry with the leadership for fleeing their country. However, the facts are disturbing.
Analysts further say that victory or defeat is a part of every game, but in the by-elections, the PPP has given a big boost and got 32,000 votes as compared to the general elections, which will be for PTI and PML-N in the near future. Alarm bell. He said that one of the reasons may be that PTI voters have voted for PPP in opposition to PML-N or PPP is re-entering Punjab. However, the PML-N should smell the danger no matter what happens.
