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Pakistan's ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Party retained the parliamentary seat of fomer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in by-election held on Sunday, according to unofficial results.
The National Assembly's seat that fell vacant after the country's top court removed Nawaz Sharif as prime minister over corruption charges in July.
Kulsoom Nawaz, wife of Nawaz Sharif, defeated Yasmeen Rashid of the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) in a neck-and-neck fight in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. Punjab, the country's most populous province, is considered as the political power base of Sharif's PML-N.
Kulsoom is currently under treatment in a London hospital after she was diagnosed with lymphoma, cancer of lymph nodes, according to her family.
State television reported that Kulsoom Nawaz secured nearly 60,000 votes while her rival Yasmeen Rashid bagged around 45,000 votes counted at 208 polling stations out of the total 220 stations.
Both parties had been vigorously involved in election campaign over the past few weeks and Maryam Nawaz, daughter of Nawaz Sharif, led the PML-N campaign. PTI Chief Imran Khan also briefly involved in the election campaign.
The election on the National Assembly seat (NA-120 Lahore-III) was held peacefully and there were only minor incidents of scuffle during the 9-hour polling. Pakistan Army and paramilitary troops were deployed for maintenance peace in view of tension between the two arch rivals.
Maryam Nawaz, who had led election campaign for her mother, told supporters that the results are the victory of Nawaz Sharif as the people still "love" him.
"Nawaz Sharif still lives in the heart of the people," Maryam told thousands of her party's supporters, who gathered outside the party's election control room in Lahore.
PTI's candidate Yasmeen Rashid alleged some mismanagement during the poll and said she would approach the court against the election authorities.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
