PTI-backed independents leading in close race with PML-N, PPP, according to media reports

Pakistani local media reported that in a close race between the two major parties, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), independent candidates supported by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) are leading with 73 seats as the general election count moves forward. PTI-backed independent candidates are leading on 73 seats out of 266 total, followed by the PML-N on 48 and the PPP on 35, according to the unofficial results called by Geo News for 163 of the 266 seats.

However, the provisional results have only been released for 72 seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Dawn reported.
As per ECP, PTI-baked independents are leading on 28 seats, followed by a tight contest between PML-N (19 seats) and PPP (18 seats).
Among major candidates, three-time former PM and front-runner Nawaz Sharif won from the NA-130 constituency in Lahore with 1,71,024 votes.
However, in a major surprise, he lost in the NA-15 constituency in Mansehra against PTI-backed independent Gustasap Khan, according to ARY News.
Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz won the NA-119 seat from Lahore. Former PM Shehbaz Sharif also won from the PP-158 seat in Lahore.

Asif Ali Zardari, the former president, and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the former foreign minister, were among the PPP leaders who also emerged victorious from their respective seats in NA-207 and NA-196. Notably, Imran Khan’s criminal convictions kept him from running in the elections. In a decision later upheld by Pakistan’s highest court, the ECP also removed the PTI’s electoral symbol. As a result, Dawn said, PTI officials and adherents ran as independent candidates. Pakistan’s local media outlets have begun to report on the results of the elections that were held in the national and provincial assemblies on February 8. The polls were held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. that same day.