Violence marred local government elections in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming two lives in different incidents of violence.
The districts where elections were held are Buner, Bajaur, Swabi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Karak, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Tank, Haripur, Khyber, Mohmand, Charsadda, Mardan, Hangu and Lakki Marwat. The polling process remained slow, and voters present inside polling stations were allowed to cast their votes beyond the 5pm deadline.
In Takht-e-Nasrati tehsil of Karak, at least two people were killed and three others critically injured in firing carried out at a polling station, according to Rescue 1122. Rescue officials shifted the injured to the Karak District Headquarters Hospital after administering first aid to them.
In Charsadda, meanwhile, a man was wounded after unknown individuals opened fire outside a polling station.
Violence was also reported from Zakhakhel area of the Khyber tribal district, where unidentified individuals entered a polling station and broke ballot boxes. Polling was suspended in 12 polling stations after the men tried to forcibly stop the election. Violence also broke out in Darra Adam Khel, where groups of people against the merger of the tribal districts, set fire to polling stations and votes and took some ballot boxes with them.
In Nowshera’s Mir Misri Banda area where a women’s polling station was attacked during polling time. District Police Officer Imran Khan said that an independent councillor candidate, Muzzaffar Khan, with some companions attacked the venue. The group broke six ballot boxes, tore up votes and even took some votes with them. The DPO said that a case against the candidate and 150 others is being registered and that efforts are underway to arrest the culprits.
According to unofficial, preliminary results for four major cities’ mayoral race, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) has the upper hand in Peshawar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Bannu, Awami National Party (ANP) in Mardan and an independent candidate in Kohat. In Peshawar, according to the unofficial results from 69 out of 521 polling stations, Zubair Ali of JUI is leading the race with 6,237 votes while PTI’s Rizwan Bangash is second with 5,638 votes.
According to unofficial, preliminary results for four major cities’ mayoral race, JamiatUlema-e-Islam (JUI) has the upper hand in Peshawar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Bannu, Awami National Party (ANP) in Mardan and an independent candidate in Kohat.
In Peshawar, according to the unofficial results from 69 out of 521 polling stations, Zubair Ali of JUI is leading the race with 6,237 votes while PTI’s RizwanBangash is second with 5,638 votes.
In Bannu, according to unofficial results frpm 75 polling stations out of 286, PTI’s Iqbal Jadoon Khan is leading with 14,623 votes and JUI is close behind with 14,426 votes.
In Mardan, according to the unofficial results from 10 out of 414 polling stations, ANP’s HimayatullahMayar is ahead with 1,708 votes while JUIF’s Amanat Shah Haqqani is in second place with 1070 votes.
In Kohat, according to unofficial results from 75 of 265 polling stations, independent candidate Shafiullah Jan is in the lead with 8,583 votes and Sher Zaman of JUI is in second place with 8,087 votes.
Independents dominate in Village Council polls
According to unofficial results of 28 Village Councils, according to which 11 independent candidates have been elected to village council seats. Furthermore, according to the results received, JUI and ANP have won 6 each, PTI 3, and Jamaat-e-Islami and PML-N one village council seat each.
According to unofficial results of 16 neighbourhood Councils, according to which nine independent candidates have won Neighborhood Council seats. Three candidates from JUI, and one each from ANP, PPP, PTI and PML-N have been elected to the Neighborhood Council.
