Gujranwala: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Nasir Cheema on Sunday won PP-97 Gujranwala during a re-polling on 33 polling stations. According to unofficial results, Cheema got 10,405 votes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Ashraf Warraich secured 9,966 votes. Cheema thus emerged victorious in the overall election with a total of 27,529 votes in the 119 polling stations while Warraich secured 26,216 votes, reported a private TV channel. Warraich had won the seat in 2013 but Pakistan Muslim League candidate Nasir Cheema challenged the result in Election Tribunal. Cheema had claimed that the PML-N candidate had polled 15,000 extra votes. Justice Kazim Ali Malik ordered re-polling in 33 polling stations of the constituency.
Nasir Cheema has switched from PML-Q to PTI now and though PTI had announced him as their candidate, he contested this election on the symbol of bicycle, which is PML-Q’s election symbol. Along with the PTI, Nasir Cheema also enjoyed the support of Pakistan People’s Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Chatha League and Sunni Tehreek.
After deducting the results of these 33 polling stations, Cheema’s votes counted to 17,124 while Warraich’s counted to 16,250. In the re-polling on these 33 polling stations, Cheema secured 10,405 votes while Ashraf Warraich bagged 9,966 votes.
