Each general election comes as a surprise for certain political figures while for others it becomes a nightmare, same happened in the general elections of 2018 which came with major upsets.
Usually prominent political figures contest from more than one seats, and they chose those constituencies which are considered to be their strong holds. But despite these safety measures some political leaders failed to win the elections.
1) Maulana Fazal ur Rehman:
The JUI head who is also the president of religious alliance Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) contested elections from two national assembly seats in KPK but lost both to PTI candidate. It was the most unpredicted upset as he remained a member of National Assembly from 1988 till 2018.
2) Siraj Ul Haq:
Another major blow was the ousting of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Siraj Ul Haq, he was also part of the religious alliance MMA. Though the alliance secured some seats but both prominent leaders failed to reach assembly.
He was contesting from NA-7, Lower Dir which remained a loyal constituency for JI but this time PTI swept KPK including lower Dir. Siraj ul Haque secured only 17000 votes while PTI candidate secured 62,416 votes.
3) Chaudhry Nisar:
Ex-interior minister was very confident about the general elections but the results failed to amuse him. He lost both the national and provincial assembly seat from Rawalpindi, it is first time since 1985 that he failed to win the seat in Rawalpindi.
4) Ghulam Ahmed Bilour:
ANP leader Ghulam Ahmed Bilour was considered a strong candidate from NA-31 Peshawar, especially after a bomb blast killed his nephew in Peshawar. It was expected that this will increase the sympathy votes to the ANP candidate but he was ousted with an unprecedented margin.
5) Mustafa Kamal:
Pakistan SarZameen Party (PSP) claimed that it will emerge as the biggest political force in the metropolitan city of Karachi but it failed to win any seat. PSP leader and ex-mayor of the city Mustafa Kamal also lost the general elections from both National Assembly seats.
6) Khaqan Abbasi:
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, the ex-prime minister of Pakistan was very confident about winning the elections but yet failed from both constituencies NA-53 & NA-57.
7) Abid Sher Ali:
Abid Sher Ali who served as the Minister for Water & electricity lost from Faisalabad which was considered the stronghold of PMLN.