The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has retained the PP-203 (Sahiwal-VI) Punjab Assembly seat, with its candidate Muhammad Asad Hanif Jutt winning the by-election in Chichawatni with 42,114 votes, according to the official Form-47 results. Polling was held on Sunday, 8 November 2026, and the result makes Asad Hanif the new MPA for the constituency, subject to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s formal notification.
In the second by-election held the same day, the National Assembly seat of NA-77 Gujranwala-I, counting was still under way late on Sunday evening. Early unofficial counts put the PML-N candidate, Rashid Bashir Virk, in the lead, but no winner had been declared — and the Election Commission has already warned that the result there could be withheld while it examines an alleged breach of the election code of conduct.
A clear win for PML-N in Chichawatni
Seven candidates contested PP-203, where 185 polling stations served 258,122 registered voters. Polling ran from 8 in the morning until 5 in the evening, and the PML-N campaigned on the lion symbol. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N MPA Chaudhry Muhammad Hanif Jutt, who died of a cardiac arrest on 17 September 2026, less than a year after winning the same seat in a by-election in November 2025.
The 17,602-vote margin in the official Form-47 results points to a comfortable win rather than a close fight. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which had held the seat after the 2024 general election before its member was disqualified, boycotted this round of by-elections and fielded no candidate in either constituency. That left the PML-N facing a field that included a candidate from the youth-led Tehreek-e-Ehsaas movement, which had entered the race as a new factor in Chichawatni politics.
As with all unofficial results, the figures will only become final once the returning officer consolidates them and the Election Commission issues its formal notification. Until then, the 17,602-vote margin stands as the Form-47 outcome, pending the Election Commission’s formal notification.
NA-77: an early lead, but the result hangs on an ECP probe
The picture in Gujranwala is less settled. Early unofficial counts showed Rashid Bashir Virk, the PML-N candidate and son of the late MNA Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, ahead of his rivals. Samaa TV reported an early lead of 686 votes, while ARY News reported him leading in 21 polling stations, and Geo News also reported the PML-N candidate in front. But these were early, partial counts, and the final tally had not been announced by late evening.
The seat fell vacant after the death of Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk, a five-time member of the National Assembly, on 11 September 2026 after a prolonged illness. He had won the seat in the 2024 general election with 109,704 votes. Neither the PTI nor the PPP nor the Jamaat-e-Islami contested this by-election, which made the PML-N the clear favourite — but the contest has been overshadowed by a row over alleged campaign violations.
The Election Commission took notice on Saturday after reports that Information Minister Attaullah Tarar visited the constituency by helicopter and addressed a campaign gathering for Rashid Bashir Virk. The commission summoned the minister and warned that the constituency’s result may be withheld until a final decision is reached. Notices were also served on three other public office holders — Punjab Assembly member Qudsia Batool, National Assembly member Saira Afzal Tarar and Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Culture Shazia Rizwan — over reports that they visited polling stations within NA-77. The commission has stressed that the notices relate to alleged violations only, and no finding of guilt has been made against any of the office holders named. NA-77 has since been decided: PML-N’s Rashid Basheer Virk won with 43,365 votes — full results.
A low-key polling day under tight security
Both by-elections were held under a heavy security umbrella, with the army and Rangers deployed to support the police at polling stations. Voters cast their ballots in an atmosphere that remained largely peaceful through the day, and no major incident of violence was reported from either constituency by the evening.
The by-elections were always going to be a quieter affair than a general election. With the PTI boycotting and the main opposition parties sitting out NA-77, there was little of the head-to-head contest that usually drives turnout in Punjab. Even so, the two results matter to the PML-N: both seats belonged to its own lawmakers, and losing either would have been an embarrassment for a party that has staked its claim on holding Punjab.
What happens next
For PP-203, the next step is procedural: consolidation of the results by the returning officer and a formal notification from the Election Commission confirming Asad Hanif as the returned candidate. For NA-77, the wait is longer and less certain. The counting must first be completed, and then the Election Commission must decide whether the alleged code-of-conduct violations affect the outcome. Until it does, the Gujranwala result stays open — a reminder that in this by-election, the counting of votes was only half the story.
Sources: Election Commission of Pakistan; Radio Pakistan.
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