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Counting of votes in Pakistan's General Elections is underway and Imran Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has taken an early lead in 69 seats. Its main opponent, Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is in second place with leads in 49 seats, whereas Bilawal Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party is third with leads in 30 seats. These are early trends. The Pakistan National Assembly has 272 seats with a first past the post system, like in India. The nation voted on Wednesday in a knife-edge general election pitting cricket hero Imran Khan against the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, with the prospect of neither winning a clear majority. A decade after Pakistan was last ruled by a military government, the election has been plagued by allegations the powerful armed forces have been trying to tilt the race in Khan's favour after falling out with the outgoing ruling party of Sharif, who was jailed on corruption charges this month. The most recent opinion polls say the two parties are running neck-and-neck. Khan has emerged as a slight favourite in national polls, but the divisive race is likely to come down to Punjab, the country's most populous province, where Sharif's party has clung to its lead in recent surveys. Even as Pakistan came out to vote on Wednesday, several attacks marred the elections. A suicide bomber killed at least 29 people near a polling centre.
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Sindh province: PPP is holding its ground in Sindh by leading in 31 seats. PTI is leading in 4 seats, and PML(N) is leading in just one seat.
Unofficial results from 21 PK-28 (Battagram-I) polling stations show MMAP's Shah Hussain Khan leading with 3,789 votes. PTI's Muhammad Zubair Khan trailing with 1,804 votes.
PTI takes more gains in Punjab province by leading with 38 in Punjab, PML(N) a distant second with 24 leads.
A look at how the govts of Pakistan have looked so far. (Network18 Creatives)
PTI chief Imran Khan leading in NA-35 also. This is the third seat he is leading in right now. Khan is contesting from five seats.
PTI and PML(N) are giving each other a tough fight in Punjab. Both parties leading in 36 seats now. Punjab province is a stronghold of Nawaz Sharif.
Hours after polling began for the general elections, an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up outside a polling station in Bhosa Mandi area of Balochistan's provincial capital, Quetta, killing 31 people, including policemen. In separate incidents, four persons were killed in poll-related violence. Clashes erupted between rival parties outside several polling stations, reports said.
A party can only form the government if it manages to clinch 172 seats in total. Pakistan's National Assembly comprises a total of 342 members, of which 272 are directly elected whereas the rest - 60 seats reserved for women and 10 for religious minorities - are selected later through proportional representation among parties with more than five per cent of the vote.
EARLY TRENDS | Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is leading on 64 parliamentary seats while its main rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is ahead on 46 seats in the initial round of the counting in an election marred by a deadly suicide attack and allegations of manipulations by the powerful military. The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) of former president Asif Ali Zardari is leading on 28 seats, indicating that he could play a 'kingmaker' in case of a hung parliament. Independents are leading on 20 seats. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) - an alliance of traditional religious parties such as Jamaat-e-Islami led by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl headed by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan led by Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani and Tehreek-e-Jafaria led by Allama Sajid Naqvi – is leading on 11 seats.
Former foreign minister Khwaja Asif trailing | Unofficial results from 16 NA-73 (Sialkot-II) polling stations show PTI's Muhammad Usman Dar leading with 3,006 votes. PML-N leader and former foreign minister Khawaja Asif trails closely with 2,929 votes.
PTI and PML(N) neck and neck in Punjab province. Both are leading in 31 seats each.
Half of the leads for Imran Khan's PTI have come from Punjab, a stronghold of Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa today urged the people to vote to defeat the "inimical forces" working against the country, amid charges of manipulation by the powerful military in the just-concluded elections. Gen Bajwa and his wife exercised their franchise in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the spokesperson for the military's media wing said. He urged the people to "come out and vote undeterred" in order to defeat enemy forces working against Pakistan, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Asif Ghafoor tweeted along with a picture of the stout army chief at the polling centre.
PTI leads across 30 Punjab seats, PML-N in 22.
Current leads: 62 for PTI, 43 for PML(N), 26 PPP, 52 for Others
Punjab Province: PTI leads across 26 Punjab seats, PML-N in 19.
EARLY TRENDS | PTI is leading in 60 seats, PML(N) in 41 and PPP in 26 seats.
PTI is leading across four Khyber Pakhtunkhwan seats of PK-29, 40, 55, 62.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan leading with 964 votes in NA-53. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi trails with 501 votes
Bilawal Bhutto's PPP is dominating in Sindh, leads across 22 PA seats.
Imran Khan (4192 votes) is leading in NA-95, Mianwali which is one of the five constituencies that he is contesting. PML-N's Abid ullah khan trails with (976 votes). Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan is hoping to become Pakistan's prime minister after 20 years of being dismissed at the polls, as the country prepares for results of an election pitting him against the party of jailed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.
Pakistan's election commission today rejected a plea by major political parties to extend the polling time by an hour, amid reports of slow voting in many constituencies, according to a media report. The voting closed at 6:00 pm (local time) as scheduled. The request to extend the voting time was initiated by former jailed prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which was later joined by the Awami Muslim League (AML), the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaad (PTI).
Nawaz Sharif's Brother Shehbaz Trailing | Younger brother of Nawaz Sharif and outgoing CM of Punjab Shehbaz Sharif trailing against PTI's Saleem Rehman by 179 votes in NA-3, Swat-II.
PTI’s Muhammad Ansar Iqbal leading with 800 votes in PP-74 (Kot Momin). PML-N’s Manazir Hussain trails at second position with 512 votes
PPP's Sheraz Shaukat Rajpur 40 votes ahead of GDA's Rafique Banbhan in PS-29.
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