Lahore, Jul 17 (PTI) The counting is underway in the closely-contested by-election on 20 assembly seats of Pakistan's Punjab Assembly held on Sunday - the first major political battle between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) since the latter was ousted from power in April.

The 20 seats fell vacant after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on May 23 disqualified 25 PTI dissident lawmakers, including five lawmakers elected on reserved seats for women and minorities, due to Khan's petition against them.

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The election's outcome will determine who will rule politically crucially province Punjab – Prime Minister Sharif's PML-N or Khan's PTI.

The initial trends show a 'neck-to-neck' contest between the PML-N and PTI. Going by an early lead, the PTI candidates are ahead of PML-N's in most constituencies.

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Earlier on Sunday, the by-election was held in a relatively peaceful manner with scattered incidents of violence. A heavy contingent of police was deployed in five 'sensitive' constituencies of Lahore and Multan.

A couple of political workers were injured in Lahore during a clash between the PML-N and PTI supporters. A violent clash was reported between the two arch-rivals in Muzaffargarh (some 350 kms from Lahore) too. Turnout in most constituencies reportedly remained low.

According to Punjab police, they arrested 15 persons near different polling stations for indulging in violence and carrying arms. The police have also arrested PTI Chairman Imran Khan's close aide Shahbaz Gill from Muzaffargarh for keeping armed guards.

Khan strongly condemned Gill's arrest and alleged that the PML-N-led Punjab government had “brazenly violated the Supreme Court's” verdict by resorting to rigging.

"Today Punjab government has brazenly violated SC orders [and] election rules by openly using all government and state machinery to rig Punjab elections through illegal ballot stamping [and] harassing voters while arresting PTI leaders,” he said.

He also accused the Election Commission of turning a blind eye and said "courts must open now [and] act."

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb rejected Khan's rigging claim, saying "not a single complaint" of rigging was reported in these 20 constituencies. She said these were rigging free by-polls unlike the ones held during the tenure of Imran Khan as premier.

This contest is seen as a matter of ‘life and death' for both major competitors who practically have their political futures in the province on the line.

If the opposition PTI manages to grab majority seats, it could dethrone Hamza Shehbaz as the Punjab chief minister, which the Sharifs, especially Hamza's father Prime Minister Shehbaz, cannot afford, as it could restrict the junior Sharif's rule to the Centre only.

The PML-N has also hinted that if it loses the Punjab chief ministership to PTI, it may leave the federal government too.

For the PTI, Sunday's by-polls mean a lot more than defeating the Sharifs and Zardaris.

Khan and his companions have painted the contest as ‘a fight between good (his party) and evil (the ruling coalitions in the Centre and Punjab)' and a matter of the country's sovereignty in the face of alleged foreign (US) meddling in its affairs.

The PML-N-led coalition needs at least 11 seats of the 20 to achieve the magic 186-member majority in the assembly for Hamza to survive as the CM, whereas PTI-PMLQ joint candidate Chaudhry Parvez Elahi requires 13 to oust Hamza.

The Punjab Assembly currently stands at 349 members: the PTI has 163 lawmakers and its ally PML-Q 10. The PML-N has 163 members while its coalition partners PPP seven, four independents and one Rah-i-Haq Party.

Three-time premier Nawaz Sharif who has been in London since November 2019 in 'self-exile' had monitored his party campaign.

As per rules, a party or coalition needs a minimum of 186 out of the 371 seats in the assembly to elect a chief minister of its choice.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)