NA-249 recounting confirms PPP victory

 Qadir Mandokhail of PPP win with even bigger margin of 909 votes

The PPP retained its seat in recounting of votes in NA-249 Karachi. Qadir Mandokhail of PPP not only maintained its lead in the recounting but increased it to 909 votes. The PTI, PML-N, PSP and MQM-P boycotted the recounting of votes. But election commission of Pakistan continued the recounting process which was completed today.   

After a recount of votes polled across all 276 stations, PPP candidate Abdul Qadir Mandokhail got 15,656 votes, whereas PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail secured 14,747, meaning a victory margin of 909 votes.

When the by-poll results were first announced, Mandokhel won with 16,156 votes, whereas Ismail came in second with 15,473, resulting in a difference of 683 votes.The narrow margin of votes had prompted Ismail to petition the Election Commission of Pakistan to hold a recount.

During the recounting process all the candidates lost votes as more votes were rejected. The rejected votes of different candidates are as; Miftah Ismail 726, MQM-P 504, PPP 500, PSP 499, TLP (banned) 457 and PTI 241 votes. 

                                                      Khalid Bhatti