ISLAMABAD, May 11:
Former Pakistan Prime Minister and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his rival Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tonight won from their respective constituencies in the landmark general elections.
Sharif won the Sargodha constituency seat from his stronghold Punjab province and his party was reported to be leading in 110 of the 203 seats for which trends were available.
Polling was held for 272 seats in the National Assembly.
Cricketer-turned-politician Khan won Peshawar-I constituency even as his party led in 32 seats.
“ANP’s Ghulam Bilour has admitted defeat from Imran Khan on NA-1 (Peshawar-I). Khan won 66,464 votes from the seat,” Express News reported.
Sharif got 19,125 votes, defeating Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Noor Hayat who only secured 6,065 votes.
Initial trends available for 229 off the 272 seas at stake showed PML-N leading in 110, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in 32, PPP in 31 while independents lead in 20 and JUI-F in 10.
Earlier defying Taliban death threats and violence that claimed 24 lives, millions of Pakistanis today voted in a landmark general election that marked the first democratic transition in the country’s 66-year history.
The Election Commission extended polling by an hour to accommodate large numbers of voters who were still present at polling stations and officials said they expected the turnout to be around 60 per cent.
A staggering 75,000 security personnel, including 5,000 troops for sensitive polling stations Taliban-dominated restive areas in northwest, were deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the exercise.
Long queues and chaotic scenes were witnessed outside thousands of polling stations across the country despite threats of attacks by the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which said it would target the elections as they are part of the “infidel” system of democracy.
The turnout remained strong throughout the day despite a string of gun and bomb attacks in Karachi, the country’s largest city, and across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
The attacks killed at least 24 people and injured dozens.
Two persons were killed and several injured when a bus was targeted by the third blast at Qasba Colony in Karachi.
In the northwest, two policemen were killed and four others injured in an explosion at Toorghar in Peshawar.
Four workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party were gunned down in Charsadda while eight persons were injured when a bomb attached to a motorcycle went off outside a women’s polling station in Peshawar.
Five persons were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest after he was intercepted by police outside another polling station in Peshawar.
In Balochistan, three persons were killed in a clash between two rival groups at Chaman while two persons were killed when gunmen opened fire at a polling station in Kalat.
Several persons were injured in a blast in the provincial capital of Quetta.
There were also reports of clashes between supporters of rival political parties in parts of Punjab and Sindh provinces. (PTI)
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