Fafen declares Rahim Yar Khan by-election transparent

A report issued by the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen) declared the recently concluded by-election on National Assembly seat NA-171 was largely faire.

The poll in Rahim Yar Khan-III saw an increase of 40 per cent compared to the general elections, with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate emerging victorious.

The seat fell vacant due to the death of PTI leader Mumtaz Mustafa.

PPP’s Makhdoom Tahir Rasheeduddin, who got 116,429 votes, won the seat, according to official results. PTI’s Hassan Mustafa secured 58,251 votes.

The PTI saw its vote share slashed from 43pc in the general elections to 32pc in Thursday’s polls, Fafen reported.

The independent election watchdog said that the polls remained peaceful and well-organised.

The number of invalid votes declined from 3pc of the polled votes in the general election to 2pc, it said. The total number of voters in the constituency was 526,973, with 288,113 males and 238,860 females.