[Python] gpg.import_keys() is not working in python virtual environment

I'm running this piece of code to encrypt a file using PGP public key.

import gnupg

def pgp_encrypt(pub_file, out_file):

gpg = gnupg.GPG()

with open(pub_file, 'rb') as pgp_pub_key:
public_key_data = pgp_pub_key.read()

# import_keys_file() is NOT used as the key
# eventually will come from user-input
import_result = gpg.import_keys(public_key_data)
if import_result.count == 0:
print("Error: No keys imported. Make sure the public key file is correct.")
exit()

pgp_key_id = import_result.results[0]['fingerprint']
plaintext_data = b'This is the TEST data to encrypt'

encrypted_data = gpg.encrypt(
plaintext_data,
recipients=[pgp_key_id],
always_trust=True
)

if encrypted_data.ok:
print("Data encrypted successfully.")
print(encrypted_data.data)
with open(out_file, 'wb') as encrypted_file:
encrypted_file.write(encrypted_data.data)
else:
print("Encryption failed:")
print(encrypted_data.status)

## Apply
pgp_encrypt('pgp_pubkey.asc', 'pgp_encrypted_file')


So, basically it's reading the public-key file and putting the data in public_key_data, then importing it using gpg.import_keys(public_key_data) before encrypting the file.

print(encrypted_data.data) in my code is not printing the result properly (on the screen, which is another issue to fix) but it's working:

santanu@mgtucrpi5:~/Scripts/gnupg $ python pgp_encrypt.py
Data encrypted successfully.
b'-----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE-----\n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\npROcEBIU2jtazibCiYD1uIy+lwS4w0en8ysFPrLnJuWcFQ==\n=UR1e\n-----END PGP MESSAGE-----\n'


but the moment I run it from virtual environment, I get the following error:

santanu@mgtucrpi5:~/Scripts/gnupg $ source pgpenv/bin/activate
(pgpenv) santanu@mgtucrpi5:~/Scripts/gnupg $ python pgp_encrypt.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/santanu/Scripts/gnupg/pgp_encrypt.py", line 34, in <module>
pgp_encrypt('pgp_pubkey.asc', 'pgp_encrypted_file')
File "/home/santanu/Scripts/gnupg/pgp_encrypt.py", line 11, in pgp_encrypt
if import_result.count == 0:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: 'ImportResult' object has no attribute 'count'. Did you mean: 'counts'?


if I change it to counts (just to try), I get diffrent error, which doesn't look right either:

File "/home/santanu/Scripts/gnupg/pgpenv/lib/python3.11/site-packages/gnupg/gnupg.py", line 1064, in encrypt
result = self._encrypt(stream, recipients, **kwargs)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
TypeError: GPGBase._encrypt() got multiple values for argument 'recipients'


How can I fix that?
ref. https://gnupg.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#importing-and-receiving-keys

=======================================

To answer @fqlenos question:

This the way I did the virtual env:

% cd ~/Scripts/gnupg
% python3 -m venv pgpenv
% source pgpenv/bin/activate
% pip install gnupg


I tried with pip install python-gnupg as well but got teh same result. Is there anything I'm missing or doing incorrectly?

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