2024 Pakistani by-elections explained

The 2024 Pakistani by-elections were held on 21 April 2024 to fill 21 vacant seats in National and Provincial Assemblies. The elections were characterized by extensive security measures, including the deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces.[1] [2]

Background

The by-elections were scheduled after the 2024 Pakistani general election. These seats fell vacant due to various reasons such as candidates winning multiple seats or delay in polling due to the death of a candidate.[3] By-elections were held on 5 seats of National Assembly, 12 seats of Punjab Assembly, two seats of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and two seats of Balochistan Assembly.[4]

Security measures

The federal government approved the deployment of Pakistan Army and Civil Armed Forces personnel during the by-elections.[5] These forces functioned as a quick response force, deployed as a second and third tier behind the police.[4] [6] The exact number of troops and their deployment areas were determined by the ECP in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.[7]

About 13,800 police personnel were deployed to guard 921 polling stations.[8] The ECP mandates security personnel, excluding the armed forces deployed in by-elections, to maintain impartiality, assist officers, ensure peace, avoid clashes, arrests or interference, report irregularities and, in particular, conduct counting. Instructed to maintain neutrality during the process.[9]

Communication suspension

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced that cellular service will be temporarily suspended in certain districts of Punjab and Balochistan on April 21 and 22 during the by-elections. The move was directed by the Ministry of Interior and aimed at ensuring the integrity and security of the electoral process.[10] [11]

Candidates

No! rowspan="2"
DistrictConstituencyCandidatesRegistered VotersPolling Stations
MaleFemaleTotal
1BajaurNA-87 368,531304,060 673,591 366
2D.I KhanNA-4419 210,992 185,621 396,613358
3LahoreNA-1199 281,586 248,581 530,167338
4KasurNA-13210 295,702 236,885 532,587 342
5Qambar Shandadkot[12] NA-1964 230,580 193,201 423,781 303
Total491,387,4311,168,3562,556,7871,707
No! rowspan="2"
DistrictConstituencyCandidatesRegistered VotersPolling Stations
MaleFemaleTotal
1PP-229 146,798 143,324 290,122 215
2PP-3213 135,650 119,253 254,903 168
2PP-3613 171,833 146,711 318,544 185
4PP-5414 132,304 110,533 242,857155
5PP-936115,028 101,929 216,957 155
6PP-1396 103,424 85,781 189,205 123
7PP-14711 201,680 173,167 374,847 232
8PP-14914 180,879 164,569 345,448 218
9PP-15821 102,818 82,798 185,616 116
10PP-16419 80,338 63,057 143,395 99
11R.Y KhanPP-26620122,772 101,331 224,103138
12D.G KhanPP-2907 105,454 88,506 193,960 117
Total1531,598,9781,380,9592,979,9571,921
No! rowspan="2"
DistrictConstituencyCandidatesRegistered VotersPolling Stations
MaleFemaleTotal
1BajaurPK-2213 96,978 78,859 175,837 91
2PK-9110 121,570 102,807 224,377 168
Total23218,548181,666400,214259
No! rowspan="2"
DistrictConstituencyCandidatesRegistered VotersPolling Stations
MaleFemaleTotal
1PB-208 53,383 41,068 94,451 100
2PB-224 76,328 62,740 139,068 129
3Kila AbdullahPB-5023 104,161 59,592 163,753 125
Total35233,872163,400397,272354

Results

National Assembly

Party! colspan="3"
VotesSeats
No.%+/-ContestedWon+/-
Pakistan Muslim League (N)215,75530.2142
Sunni Ittehad Council239,33833.5041
Pakistan People's Party117,62016.4631
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan18,4162.581
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan9,8001.373
Others & Independents113,42315.88N/A331
Total valid votes714,35298.35495
Rejected ballots11,9561.65
Total votes polled726,308100
Registered Voters2,551,13128.47

Punjab Assembly

PartyVotesSeats
No.%+/-ContestedWon+/-
Pakistan Muslim League (N)502,01243.331091
Sunni Ittehad Counci332,40728.691201
Pakistan Muslim League (Q)71,3576.1611
Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party47,7224.1211
Pakistan People's Party47,5204.10211
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan31,5892.73110
Others & Independents125,99910.87N/A1160
Total valid votes1,158,60698.5915312
Rejected ballots16,5461.41
Total votes polled1,175,152100
Registered Voters2,979,95739.44

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly

PartyVotesSeats
No.%+/-ContestedWon+/-
Sunni Ittehad Counci30,55929.9721
Jamaat-e-Islami10,54410.3420
Others & Independents60,87459.69N/A191
Total valid votes101,97797.0123
Rejected ballots3,1432.99
Total votes polled105,120100
Registered Voters400,21426.26

Balochistan Assembly

PartyVotesSeats
No.%+/-ContestedWon+/-
Awami National Party72,03231.7611
Pakistan Muslim League (N)49,853 21.9521
Balochistan National Party (M)28,17512.4211
Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party57,13225.1910
Others & Independents19,6888.68N/A300
Total valid votes226,81398.30353
Rejected ballots3,9291.70
Total votes polled230,742100
Registered Voters397,27258.08

Result by Constituency (National Assembly)

No! rowspan="3"
National Assembly ConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginTurnout
CandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotes
No.%No.%No.%%
1NA-8 BajaurMubarak Zeb KhanIND74,00840.60Gul Zafar KhanSIC47,28225.9426,72614.6628.04
2NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan-IFaisal Amin KhanSIC66,87970.06Adul Rasheed Khan KundiPPP21,97923.0344,90047.0324.5
3NA-119 Lahore-IIIAli Pervaiz MalikPML(N)61,08661.25Shahzad FarooqSIC34,19733.7426,88927.5119.12
4NA-132 Kasur-IIRasheed Ahmed KhanPML(N)146,84960.86Sardar Muhammad Hussain DogarSIC90,98037.7155,86923.1545.80
5NA-196 Qambar Shahdadkot-IKhursheed Ahmed JunejoPPP91,58196.42Muhammad AliTLP2,7632.9188,81893.5122.79

The general elections for Bajaur NA-8 had been postponed because of the murder of a candidate,Rehan Zeb Khan.

NA-44 Dera Ismail Khan, the constituency was vacated by Ali Amin Gandapur, who retained his provisional assembly seat to become KP’s chief minister.

Lahore’s NA-119 was vacated by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, who preferred to become an MPA from PP-159

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari won two seats in the NA. He retained NA-194, Larkana, seat and left NA-196, Qamber Shahdadkot, seat vacant

Result by Constituency (Punjab Assembly)

NoPunjab AssemblyConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginTurnout
CandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotes
No.%No.%No.%%
1PP-22 Chakwal-cum-TalagangFalak Sher AwanPML(N)59,26548.20Nisar AhmedSIC50,35640.968,9097.2442.92
2PP-32 Gujrat-VIMusa ElahiPML(Q)71,35763.75Pervaiz ElahiSIC37,10633.1534,25130.6044.45
3PP-36 Wazirabad-IIAdnan Afzal ChattaPML(N)74,77953.77Fayyaz ChattaSIC58,68242.1916,09711.5844.38
4PP-54 Narowal-IAhmed Iqbal ChaudhryPML(N)59,23453.40Awais QasimSIC45,76241.2513,47212.1546.37
5PP-93 Bhakkar-VSaeed Akbar Khan NawaniPML(N)62,20144.83Muhammad Afzal Khan DhandlaIPP58,88842.453,3132.3864.95
6PP-139 Sheikhupura-IVRana Afzaal HussainPML(N)46,58557.00Ijaz HussainSIC29,83336.5016,75220.5043.90
7PP-147 Lahore-IIIMuhammad Riaz MalikPML(N)31,84161.39Muhammad Khan MadniIND16,54831.9015,29329.4913.97
8PP-149 Lahore-VMuhammad Shoaib SiddiquiIPP47,76259.22Zeeshan RashidSIC26,25332.5521,50926.6723.60
9PP-158 Lahore-XIVChaudhry Muhammad NawazPML(N)39,86554.73Moonis ElahiSIC28,01838.4611,84716.2739.80
10PP-164 Lahore-XXRana Rashid MinhasPML(N)31,19953.28Yousaf MayoSIC25,78144.035,4189.2541.39
11PP-266 Rahim Yar Khan-XIIMumtaz AliPPP47,18146.58Safdar Khan LeghariPML(N)34,55234.1112,62912.4745.78
12PP-290 Dera Ghazi Khan-VAli Muhammad Khan LeghariPML(N)62,52971.19Sardar Mohiuddin KhosaIND23,67226.9538,85744.2446.21

Ghulam Abbas retained NA-53, Rawalpindi, seat and left PP-22 seat.

Chaudhry Salik Hussain retained NA-64 and vacated PP-32, Gujrat, seat.

PP-36, Wazirabad, seat fell vacant after Muhammad Ahmad Chattha did not take oath

PP-54, Narowal, seat fell vacant as PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal did not take oath. He preferred to retain NA-76, Narowal

PP-139, Sheikhupura, fell vacant because PML-N’s Rana Tanveer did not take oath

Hamza Shehbaz did not take oath for PP-147, Lahore

PP-149, Lahore, fell vacant because of IPP’s Aleem Khan not taking oath

PM Shehbaz Sharif won polls for two NA and two provincial legislature seats. He left the NA-132, Kasur, as well as Lahore’s PP-158 and PP-164 seats vacant, and retained NA-123, Lahore, seat.

The polls for PP-266, Rahim Yar Khan, were postponed because of the death of a candidate.

The PP-290, Dera Ghazi Khan, was declared vacant after Awais Leghari did not take the oath

Result by Constituency (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly)

NoKhyber Pakhtunkhwa AssemblyConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginTurnout
CandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotes
No.%No.%No.%%
1PK-22 Bajaur-IVMubarak Zeb KhanIND23,38649.58Abid KhanJI10,47922.2112,90927.3728.24
2PK-91 Kohat-IIDaud Shah AfridiSIC23,51242.86Imtiaz ShahidIND16,52430.136,98812.7324.74

The general elections for NA-8, Bajaur, and PK-22, Bajaur, were postponed because of the murder of a candidate, Rehan Zeb Khan

Elections were scheduled to be held on 8 February 2024 but postponed due to death of an Independent candidate.[13]

Result by Constituency (Balochistan Assembly)

NoBalochistan AssemblyConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginTurnout
CandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotes
No.%No.%No.%%
1PB-20 Khuzdar-IIIMir Jhanzaib MengalBNP(M)28,17556.07Mir Shafiq Ur Rehman MengalIND20,34440.497,83115.5856.09
2PB-22 LasbelaMir Muhammad Zarain Khan Magsibgcolor="" PML(N)49,84488.70Shah Nawaz HassanIND3,8696.8945,90881.8040.95
3PB-50 Killa AbdullahZmarak Khan AchakzaiANP72,03255.22Mir Wais Khan AchakzaiPMAP57,13243.8014,90011.4279.65

Notes and References

  1. Web site: By-polls: Cellular services to remain down in parts of Punjab, Balochistan. www.thenews.com.pk.
  2. Web site: PTA Announces to Shut Down Internet in Punjab and Balochistan During By-Elections.
  3. Web site: By-elections 2024 on Sunday - total constituencies, candidates, full schedule. April 20, 2024. Daily Pakistan Global.
  4. Web site: Army, civil armed forces to be deployed for Sunday's by-polls. April 20, 2024. The Express Tribune.
  5. Web site: Govt approves army deployment for security during by-polls. April 20, 2024. The Nation.
  6. Web site: Govt approves army deployment for security of April 21 by-elections. April 20, 2024. Dunya News.
  7. Web site: Govt approves deployment of civil armed forces, military for Sunday by-elections. Irfan. Sadozai. April 20, 2024. DAWN.COM.
  8. Web site: Nearly 13,800 police officials to guard 921 polling stations. April 20, 2024.
  9. Web site: Security personnel deployed for by-elections must uphold neutrality, maintain peace: ECP. April 20, 2024.
  10. https://propakistani.pk/2024/04/20/pta-announces-to-shut-down-internet-in-punjab-and-balochistan-during-by-elections/
  11. Web site: By-polls: Cellular services to remain down in parts of Punjab, Balochistan .
  12. Web site: Final List of Polling Stations for the Conduct of Bye-Election -2024 in NA-196 District Kamber-Shahdadkot -I.pdf . 2024-04-22 . Google Docs.
  13. Web site: 2024-02-01 . Elections postponed in NA-8, PK-22 and PK-91 . 2024-02-02 . Dunya News . en.

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