Saad Rafique challenges Imran Khan’s victory in NA-131 Lahore

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LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Saad Rafique on Friday challenged his opponent Imran Khan’s victory in NA-131 Lahore 9 constituency, alleging irregularities in the vote count process.

Rafique, who lost to the PTI chairman in the constituency in a closely-fought contest, has filed a complaint with the returning officer alleging that the presiding officer deliberately rejected hundreds of votes.

In his application, the PML-N leader has demanded a recount of the votes from the said constituency. Until the votes are recounted, the results from the constituency should not be announced, he has requested.

Imran won NA-131 Lahore 9 with 84,313 votes, defeating Rafique who managed 83,633 votes, according to the unofficial results from all polling stations in the constituency.

Preliminary poll results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan show the PTI leading the National Assembly tally with 110 seats. As PTI workers from across the country celebrated the results, the outgoing PML-N rejected the results citing “outright rigging” and accusing officials of preventing its representatives from overseeing the count.