By Numan Wahab & Khalid Khattak
While Imran Khan’s win against a 13-party coalition–Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)–in October’s by-elections for seven of the eight seats in the National Assembly is a testament to his growing popularity among the public, an analysis of all the votes cast shows that it was indeed a landslide victory in what could be called a “Khan vs All” contest.
The former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan lost to the PDM candidate from PPPP Abdul Hakeem Baloch in NA-237 whereas on the ninth NA seat Meher Bano Qureshi (MBQ), daughter of PTI stalwart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, was fielded who lost to another PDM candidate from PPPP–Ali Moosa Gilani in NA-157.
According to an analysis by the Data Stories, on average Imran Khan bagged over 17,000 votes against his opponents (maximum 31,898 votes against MQM Pakistan’s Sayyed Naeer Raza in NA-239) except for NA-237 where Abdul Hakeem Baloch defeated the PTI chief with over 10,000 votes.
Similarly, PTI dominated in the provincial assembly (Punjab Assembly) by-elections held in October 16. Of all the three seats PTI candidates had won two seats while the remaining one was secured by the PDM candidate from PML-N. These seats included PP-139 (Sheikhupura) won by PML-N whereas PP-209 (Khanewal) and PP-241 (Bahawalnagar) seats were won by the PTI candidates.
