July 2022 Punjab provincial by-election
By-elections were held in Punjab, Pakistan on 17 July 2022 to elect 20 members of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf won a landslide victory on 15 of those 20 seats, leading to the collapse of Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz's PML(N)-led coalition government, as it became 7 seats short of a majority.
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20 of the 371 seats in the Punjab Assembly 186 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 4,579,898 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 49.71% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Map of Punjab showing Assembly constituencies up for election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The by-elections were held on these seats: PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II), PP-83 (Khushab-II), PP-90 (Bhakkar-II), PP-97 (Faisalabad-I), PP-125 (Jhang-II), PP-127 (Jhang-IV), PP-140 (Sheikhupura-VI), PP-158 (Lahore-XV), PP-167 (Lahore-XXIV), PP-168 (Lahore-XXV), PP-170 (Lahore-XXVII), PP-202 (Sahiwal-VII), PP-217 (Multan-VII), PP-224 (Lodhran-I), PP-228 (Lodhran-V), PP-237 (Bahawalnagar-I), PP-272 (Muzaffargarh-V), PP-273 (Muzaffargarh-VI), PP-282 (Layyah-III) and PP-288 (Dera Ghazi Khan-IV).
In the 2018 election, 11 of these seats were won by Independents, 8 were won by candidates on the PTI-ticket, and 1 by a PML(N) candidate; the 11 independents all subsequently joined the PTI and the PML(N) seat was won by the PTI in a December 2018 by-election. The by-elections were triggered after these 20 PTI MPAs voted in favor of the opposition candidate belonging to the PML(N), Hamza Shahbaz, to become the Chief Minister of Punjab, which, according to the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan, violated Article 63-A of the Constitution of Pakistan which concerns party defections.