Election 2024: Independents’ steal spotlight by winning 100 NA, 90 KPK assembly seats

Islamabad: Independent candidates continued to consolidate their lead in the General Elections 2024 over mainstream political parties, especially in the National and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies, throughout the result announcement process.

They won 100 in the National,90  KPK assemblies and 137 seats in Punjab, according to the results announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) till Saturday.

According to available results (Form-47) from 255 National Assembly constituencies, independent candidates secured 100 seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 73, Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) 54, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) three, Istehqam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) two, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan 17, Grand Democratic Alliance one, Pakistan Muslim League-Zia one, Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen Pakistan (MWMP) one, and PML three seats. Out of 295 Punjab Assembly-seat results, independent candidates won 137 seats, PML-N 137, PPPP 10, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan 1, IPP 1, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) 7, and PML-Z 1.

For the Sindh Assembly, PPPP secured 84 seats, independent candidates 13, MQM-P 28, GDA 2, and Jamaat-e-Islami 2, out of the total 129 constituencies’ results. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, independent candidates clinched 90 provincial assembly seats, PML-N 5, PPPP 4, JUI 7, JI 3, Awami National Party (ANP) and PTIP one each, out of 112 seats.

In Balochistan, PML-N secured 9 seats, PPPP 11, JUI 9, independent candidates 6, JI 1, Awami National Party 2, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) 4, and one each by Balochistan National Party-Awami and National Party (NP), as per the results announced for 48 seats so far.

According to the ECP, over 128 million registered voters were scheduled to exercise their democratic right by casting votes for candidates participating in elections for the national and provincial legislatures. The polling was held for 265 seats of the National Assembly and 590 seats of provincial assemblies. Voting took place on 51 seats of the Balochistan Assembly, 128 out of 130 seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 296 out of 297 seats of the Punjab Assembly, and 130 seats of the Sindh Assembly.

Polling was held in 855 constituencies out of overall 859; however, due to the death of the candidate, voting was not held in NA 8, PP 266, PK 22, and PK 91. It was the 5th consecutive general poll for the transfer of power from one democratic setup to another since the dawn of the 21st century (2002-2024), reflecting the nation’s solid commitment to democracy, democratic values, and norms.

The polls were held overall smoothly and peacefully as no major untoward incident was reported throughout the country on Election Day with active participation of citizens who came out in droves to exercise their right to vote for electing candidates of their choice.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ensured elaborate arrangements in collaboration with security departments and other state institutions to conduct the election in a free, fair, transparent, and peaceful manner across the country.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has put on hold the results of NA- 88, PS-8 and PK-90 due to certain reasons while the announcement for awaited results of nine NA seats, Punjab one and three Balochistan would be made in due course of time by the ECP. Whereas the re-polling on the withheld sets will be on February 15, and as per the ECP, the results are to be announced the same day.