Islamabad, 9 Feb

Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's party-backed independent candidates seemed to be gaining the upper hand after the results of the general elections started trickling in on Friday following unusual delays that led to allegations of rigging.

Votes are still being counted in Pakistan after Thursday's general election which was marred by allegations of rigging, sporadic violence and a countrywide mobile phone shutdown. There were dozens of parties in the fray but the main contest was among Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), whose candidates are running as independents, former three-time premier Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Bilawal Zardari Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). A party must win 133 seats out of 265 in the National Assembly being contested to form the next government.

Pakistan's authorities were moving at a snail's pace to announce the election results that in a surprising development showed disqualified ex-prime minister Khan's PTI supported independent candidates leading the show. Khan, 71, a cricketer-turned-politician and the founding chairman of the PTI, is behind bars and barred from contesting. PTI candidates are running as independents after they were not allowed to use the party symbol - a cricket bat.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has so far announced 61 results of the National Assembly, showing the PTI-backed independent candidates winning 22 seats. The PPP also secured victory in 22 seats followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in 17 seats. The ECP started updating results at a faster pace since morning after facing a barrage of criticism by the parties, especially the PTI which accused that its mandate was being stolen.

The big names who won included PML-N top leaders, including former premier Sharif who won by a big margin by getting 171,024 votes against PTI-backed independent Dr Yasmin Rashid who polled 115,043. His younger brother and former premier Shehbaz Sharif also won, in addition to his son Hamza Shehbaz and Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz. All four family members scored victories from Lahore, their home and party’s stronghold.

PTI leader Gohar Ali Khan won NA-10 in the Buner area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 110,023 votes, according to the ECP. He defeated Awami National Party candidate Abdul Rauf who came second with 30,302 votes. PTI’s former speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar also won. PPP leaders Asif Ali Zardari and his son party chief Bilawal were leading in their constituencies.

The prominent losers in the elections were PTI's former leader and defence minister Pervaiz Khattak. As far as the provincial assemblies were concerned, the ECP data showed results of 53 constituencies of the Sindh Assembly, with the PPP succeeding in 45 constituencies while independent candidates won only four constituencies.

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) won two seats, and Jamaat-e-Islami and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) one each. According to the results of 50 constituencies of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 45 PTI-backed independent candidates supported by Tehreek-e-Insaf secured victories.

In the Punjab Assembly, PML-N has won 39 seats, independent candidates have won 33 seats and Muslim League-Q has won two seats. Similarly, the results of 6 constituencies of the Balochistan Assembly have been received so far where PML-N and Balochistan National Party (BNP) Awami have been successful in one seat each. In Balochistan, JUI-F won three seats while PPP won one seat.

Unofficial result trends being aired on the television channels showed the PTI-backed candidates having upstaged their rivals in many National and Provincial Assembly seats. Geo News reported that it received results from 100 per cent polling stations of 101 NA constituencies, and independents backed by PTI won 47, PML-N 29 and PPP 22 seats. Other seats went to smaller parties.

PTI claimed that it won the elections while alleging that results were being delayed to rig the outcome. In a statement on X from the PTI official handle, the party stated that it won more than 150 NA seats out of 265 open for contest as per the data received in Form 45s, which are the primary source of election results at the lowest level and show the votes for each candidate at each polling station.