With Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) facing defeat in Thursday’s Larkana by-election, Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir has trolled the rival party with a jibe at its late founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

By-poll in the PS-11 constituency — considered a stronghold of Sindh’s ruling PPP — had been announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after the Supreme Court had de-seated Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate Moazzam Ali Abbasi in August.

With an apex court bench declaring the election tribunal’s decision void and ordering re-election in the constituency, voters on Thursday polled to elect Abbasi, unofficial results revealed.

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As per preliminary results from 138 polling stations that were set up for the by-election, Abbasi bagged 31,557 votes, while his rival Jamil Soomro of the PPP obtained 26,021 votes.

Reacting to the results, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari vowed to challenge what he believes was “rigging” in the by-election.

In a series of posts shared on Twitter, the PPP leader said he was proud of party workers for “fighting an honourable election,” which he claimed they did “despite immense pressure from the establishment”.

The accusations, however, did not seem to bother GDA or its allies, one of which is the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

“Wanted to ask if Bhutto is still alive or not,” PTI leader and minister Zartaj Gul tweeted.

While many joined Wazir in her attempt to poke fun at the opposition party, others argued that the statement was in bad taste for speaking ill of the deceased.