PM preparing to declare victory in Punjab by-elections prematurely: Mazari

PTI leader and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari on Sunday took to Twitter and accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of "preparing to declare victory in the Punjab by-elections prematurely with the help of handlers."

In her tweet, Mazari also accused the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of assisting the government in rigging the elections and wrote: "Results are showing PTI leading in 15 seats despite harassment & massive pre-poll rigging by Imported govt, their handlers all abetted by ECP & Punjab admin. PTI will not allow or accept any tampering with results through post-poll rigging."

The former minister added since many voters came out today to vote for the PTI, the party will definitely win today. In a separate tweet, she also said that her party will not tolerate attempts of post-election rigging.

Polling in 20 constituencies of Punjab, which started at 8am today, came to an end at 5pm amid reports of isolated clashes and arrests. The counting of votes is underway, and according to unofficial results, the PTI was in the lead by 8pm.

During the day, Punjab police arrested senior PTI leader Shahbaz Gill for allegedly visiting different polling booths with his security guards who were dressed as FC personnel.

Meanwhile, the ECP issued a notice to PTI Vice-President Shah Mehmood Qureshi for violating Article 56 of the Election Commission's code of conduct by visiting different polling stations, holding press briefings within the limits of the PP-217 Multan constituency, and launching an illegal raid along with supporters.

The ECP took notice of the fight in Lahore's PP-158 and ordered the district returning officer to review the situation in the constituency and contact security officials.

A scuffle broke out between the PTI and PML-N workers during the polling process in Lahore's constituency PP-158. As a result, one of the PML-N workers sustained a head injury.