Unofficial, preliminary results continue to trickle in in the closely-contested by-election on 20 constituencies of Punjab, with PTI dominating the race.

According to the unofficial count, PTI is in the lead in 16 of 20 constituencies, with PML-N ahead in only 3, and an independent candidate in one.

PTI’s Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi, son of party vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has defeated PML_N’s Muhammad Salman in PP-217 Multan VII, unofficial results from all the city’s polling stations show.

Qureshi secured 46,963 votes as against Salman, who bagged 40,104.

The party also emerged victorious in PP-288 Dera Ghazi Khan IV, where Sardar Mohd Saif ud Din Khosa got 58,885 votes to beat Abdul Qadir Khan, who only managed 32,907.

Moreover, it won PP-202 Sahiwal VII, where retired Maj Muhammad Ghulam Sarwar got 61,989 votes to beat PML-N’s Malik Nauman Ahmed Langriyal who got 59,167.

PTI also won PP-83 Khushab II with candidate Malik Hassan Aslam Khan securing 48,475 votes against independent Muhammad Asif Malik who got 41,752.

A breakdown of the latest unofficial, preliminary results is given below as they come in:

How the day fared

Today’s polls remained largely peaceful aside from a few reports of clashes between supporters of opposing parties. No casualties were reported.

Other kinds of drama, however, stole the limelight. This included an early morning resignation, a leaked audio allegedly implicating the former interior minister, and a number of arrests, including that of PTI leader Shahbaz Gill.

Voter turnout was not as large as the parties hoped but was considerable, said by Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah to be 40%.