Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Rashid Bashir Virk has won the by-election in National Assembly constituency NA-77 Gujranwala-I, Geo News reported on Sunday. The result extends the ruling party's hold on a seat it has long treated as a stronghold in central Punjab.

Polling was held on Sunday in NA-77 and in Punjab Assembly constituency PP-203 in the Sahiwal region, where voters chose replacements for lawmakers who had died. The NA-77 seat fell vacant after the death of five-time National Assembly member Chaudhry Mehmood Bashir Virk on 11 September after a prolonged illness. His son Rashid was the PML-N candidate in the contest.

Unofficial results published during the count showed Virk ahead. From 222 of the constituency's 333 polling stations, he had 24,808 votes, followed by Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) candidate Qazi Ibrahim Gujjar with 17,963 votes. The figures were described as unverified and unofficial, and counting was still under way when they were published.

The PML-N also won the second seat contested on Sunday. In PP-203 (Sahiwal-VI), the party's Muhammad Asad Haneef secured victory with 42,114 votes, while Tehreek-e-Ehsaas Pakistan candidate Muhammad Owais Mahmood finished second with 24,512 votes.

The by-elections were held against a boycott by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which did not contest either seat. Around 518,000 voters were registered in NA-77.

Polling day was not without controversy. Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari alleged electoral malpractice during the day, accusing PMML polling agents of stamping ballot papers openly in front of election staff. The allegation was made while voting was under way, and no finding on it has been reported.

The two results cap a day of voting that the PML-N had approached as a test of its organisation in Punjab outside a general election. The party already held both seats before they fell vacant, and retaining them avoids any change to the balance in the National Assembly or the Punjab Assembly.

For Gujranwala, the outcome also continues a family succession in the constituency. Mehmood Bashir Virk had represented the area in the National Assembly five times, and his son now takes the seat after a campaign fought largely on the family's local standing and the ruling party's record in government.

The Election Commission of Pakistan had kept a close eye on the NA-77 contest before polling day, serving notices over alleged breaches of the election code of conduct. The commission's attention, and the malpractice claims raised during polling, mean the result is likely to be scrutinised even though the count pointed to a clear PML-N win.