In a significant announcement, the results of all 296 seats in the Punjab Assembly elections have been announced shockingly the independent candidates have emerged as the front-runners, securing a total of 138 seats.
The political landscape in the Punjab Assembly reflects the dominance of independent candidates, majority of whom are affiliated with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, who managed to clinch a total of 138 seats out of 296 seats in Punjab.
Following closely behind, the Pakistan Muslim League-N has secured 137 seats, while the Pakistan People’s Party has claimed victory in 10 constituencies.
Other notable performances include the Pakistan Muslim League-Q with eight seats, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party with one seat, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Z secured one seat.
Additionally, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan has also clinched one seat in the Punjab Assembly.
Meanwhile, three newly-elected independent members of National Assembly announced allegiance to Pakistan Muslim League-N on Saturday, increasing the seats for Nawaz Sharif’s party Independent candidates came up from behind and stole the show, with so far securing 102 seats in National Assembly. Besides PTI, the successful candidates also include some who had only been awarded a ticket following the rejection of their party’s more preferred nominees. The results of 257 out of the total 265 National Assembly constituencies where elections were held had been announced, which showed the independents in the lead with 102 seats overall. The PML-N and PPP had won 73 and 54 seats, respectively, and were set to bag most of the 70 reserved seats for women and non-Muslims in the house.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement had bagged 17 seats, while the PML-Q had three. The JUI-F and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party had secured three and two seats, respectively. MWM and BNP had clinched one seat each.
Meanwhile, two independent candidates, one from Islamabad and another from Rawalpindi, throw their weights behind Nawaz Sharif-led PML-N.
Barrister Aqeel Malik, who secured Rawalpindi’s NA-54 seat, said that the victory belongs to Nawaz Sharif. On the other hand, Raja Khurram, who took win in Islamabad’s NA-48, was the joint candidate for IPP and PML-N.