Re-polling on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly’s Shangla constituency of PK-23 is being held today (Monday) as the result of the winner of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) candidate Shaukat Yousafzai in the recent general elections was declared void due to the low turnout of female voters.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the polling has to begin at 8:00am and will continue till 6:00pm without any break.
Thirteen candidates are in the run for the seat. Prominent amongst them include PTI’s Shaukat Yousafzai, MMA’s Muhammad Yaar, ANP’s Umer Zada and PPP’s Afsar-ul-Mulk.
One hundred and thirty-five polling stations have been established across the constituency.
Earlier on September 3, the ECP issued a notification stating that polling for PK-23 Shangla will be held on September 10.
Earlier on September 4, the Supreme Court upheld the ECP’s decision for re-polling in Shangla’s constituency PK-23 on Sept 10.
Hearing the case in Islamabad, a three-member bench of the apex court rejected petition of Shaukat Yousafzai against the verdict of the commission.
It said that first class magistrate’s powers have been given to army officers and Pak Army would be deployed from Sept 9 to 11 in the constituency.
Meanwhile, the top electoral body also summoned Pakistan Army to ensure a free, fair and transparent election in the constituency.
Earlier on August 8, the commission had declared elections in the constituency null and void and halted victory notification of PTI’s candidate as less than ten percent women voters exercised their right of franchise in the general elections, and consequently decided to conduct re-polling in the constituency.
A five-member bench, headed by the chief election commissioner, held the hearing hours before it was due to issue a notification of all winning candidates in which the ECP withheld the notification of Shangla constituency.
Less than 10 per cent women voters turned out to vote for the provincial seat of PK-23. No one from the petitioner’s side or the winner’s side appeared for the hearing. The election bureau ordered to withhold the notification and sought a reply from the concerned authorities.
Only 3,500 out of 86,698 women cast votes in the constituency while the number of male voters was 66,000 out of 1,14,000, resulting in a 34 per cent total turnout.
Published in Daily Times, September 10th 2018.
