PPP loses provincial assembly seats; bags two NA seats: Jatoi resigns

President of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab chapter, Rana Aftab Ahmed lost the battle for getting a place in provincial assembly to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Ajmal Asif, Aaj News reported. According to the channel, Ajmal received 31,117 votes in by-election at PP-63 (Faisalabad-XIII) leaving his rival Rana Aftab Ahmed trailing behind with 22,233 votes.
The seat was vacated by Asif himself who was elected in 2008 general elections on PML-Q ticket and resigned later as his graduation degree was found fake. It is the second defeat of the ruling PPP in by-elections held on four vacant seats of National and Punjab assemblies as it lost the other provincial assembly seat PP-259 (Muzaffargarh-IX) to an independent candidate, backed by PML-N.
Basit Sultan got 32,512 votes while his rival Muhammad Samiullah Leghari of PPP received 30,247 votes, the channel said, quoting initial and unofficial vote count at all the 103 polling stations of PP-259. However, PPP succeeded in NA-178 (Muzaffargarh) where its candidate Jamshed Dasti received 55,634 votes against his closest rival Nawabzada Iftikhar who got 52,311 votes. A PPP candidate succeeded in National Assembly's constituency NA-167, unofficial unconfirmed results said. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Defence Production, Abdul Qayyum Jatoi, resigned on Saturday, a private TV channel reported.
APP adds: A voter died at polling station No 110 when a clash was occurred between two rival groups during by-elections in PP-63, here. Two rival groups exchanged hot words at polling station No 110 set up at Chak 272-JB Mazara. Later, both the parties started fistfight, which caused the death of a primary school teacher Muhammad Din (50).