NEW DELHI - Former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) swept the Punjab provincial assembly by-elections on Sunday, underscoring his popularity as a mass leader.
The PTI won 15 of the 20 seats up for grabs in the byelection, while its main rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif secured four seats and one went to an independent candidate, according to unofficial results published by the Pakistani media.
PML-N leaders conceded defeat as the PTI took an unassailable lead during the vote count on Sunday.
The seats had fallen vacant after the disqualification of PTI members who had voted against the party in a controversial assembly vote in April in which Shehbaz's son Hamza Shehbaz was elected Punjab's chief minister.
The PTI's emphatic win raises its strength in the provincial assembly and makes Hamza's position untenable as his government is without a simple majority.
Imran's election rallies had drawn massive crowds and throughout this campaign he accused the PML-N and its allies of being part of an alleged United States-engineered regime change operation in Pakistan.
Days before his party lost power in Punjab, the most populous and politically important province, Imran was ousted as prime minister on the night of April 9 via a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly.
The former prime minister has been calling for snap national elections for months.
Throughout his election campaign, Imran focused on his fight for Pakistan's "real freedom" and sovereignty.
The message resonated with the masses, who are also upset at rising inflation and a lack of business and employment opportunities.
Imran said "our PTI workers and voters of Punjab" defeated not only the PML-N but also the "entire state machinery" and "a totally biased" Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
"The only way forward from here is to hold fair and free (national) elections under a credible ECP. Any other path will only lead to greater political uncertainty and further economic chaos," he added.
The PTI's bypoll victory also shatters the notion of Punjab being a stronghold of the Sharif family headed by Shehbaz's brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who lives in self-exile in London.
Pakistani analysts and journalists said the results proved Imran's mass appeal.
"More than July 25, 2018, it is today that Imran Khan has arrived as a genuinely popular political leader in Pakistan with grassroots support. Hard to see what stands in his way from here on," journalist Khurram Husain said, making a reference to the 2018 national election in which the PTI was the single largest party. - BERNAMA