In what may be a major upset for the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Zubair Ali took a lead over the ruling party in Monday’s mayoral election in Peshawar.
Unofficial results from 285 voting stations show that the JUI-F candidate has received 32,275 votes, while Rizwan Bangash of the PTI has received 26,695 votes.
PTI has won nine chairman seats, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results for 21 Tehsil chairman seats, followed by independent candidates with five seats. The JUI-F has four seats, the ANP has two, and the PML-N has two chairmanship positions.
In Swabi, the PTI suffered a loss when Baland Iqbal, the uncle of provincial minister Shahram Tarakai, lost to ANP candidate Ghulam Haqqani in Razar Tehsil. Adil Khan of the PML-N won Swabi’s tehsil Lahore with 22026 votes. M Shahab of JUI-F came in second with 14820 vores.
In the mayor election in Bannu, another JUI-F candidate, Irfanullah Durrani, has strengthened his advantage over a PTI contender. Irfanullah has received 37,458 votes so far, while Iqbal Khan Jadoon of the PTI has received 23,867 votes.
Pir Kamal Shah, an independent candidate from Bannu’s tehsil Miryan, won the seat with 11,885 votes. Malik Shahid Khan of the PTI came in second with 6370 votes.
Mastoor Khan, a JUI-F candidate from Bannu’s Wazir Tehsil, was elected with 3200 votes. Irfanullah, an independent candidate, came in second.
After the results of 75 out of 81 polling stations in Bannu’s tehsil Domail, PTI’s Malik Israr Khan leads with 8081 votes. Naekdar Ali of the PPP is in second place with 5741 votes, and Musharraf Alamgir of the JUI-F is in third place with 4914 votes. For the remaining six polling stations in Domail, repolling has been declared.
The voting stations’ doors were closed by election officials. They did, however, allow persons who were inside the voting booths to vote.
However, allegations surfaced that individuals refused to leave a polling station put up at Government Girls Primary School in Zargarabad, Peshawar, even after the voting period had ended. They continued to scale the school’s walls in order to poll the students’ votes.
The second round of LB elections will take place next month in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The first round of voting began at 8 a.m. and lasted until 5 p.m.
A total of 79,479 police and other law enforcement agency personnel were deployed in the 17 districts where voting was taking place, ensuring stringent security. The 17 districts included Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshehra, and Peshawar.
However, after the assassination of ANP candidate Umar Khatab in an armed attack on Saturday morning, voting for the mayor of Dera Ismail Khan municipal council was postponed. Following the murder, security in DI Khan and the surrounding districts was increased.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reports that 12.66 million voters have registered across 17 districts, with 7. 015 million male voters and 5.653 million female voters.
In the first phase of the elections, a total of 37,752 candidates ran for various positions. There were 689 contestants in the race to lead the city and tehsil councils, and 19,285 candidates in the race for general councillors, village and neighbourhood council chairs.
Furthermore, 3,905 candidates vied for seats as women councillors, 7513 as peasant councillors, 6081 as youth councillors, and 282 as minority councillors.
In numerous village and neighbourhood councils across the province, 876 women councillors have already been elected unopposed. Unopposed, a substantial number of minority councillors were elected.
For Sunday’s election, a total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths have been put up.
There are 2,507 most sensitive polling stations, 4,188 sensitive polling stations, and 528 standard polling stations. In the provincial capital, 860 polling stations have been labelled as sensitive, 165 as very sensitive, and 224 as normal. In Peshawar alone, some 11,000 police officers and other security professionals were deployed for polling day protection.
LG elections are being held for the first time in districts of the former Fata.
Almost all seats have been filled by political parties, and at least 17 individuals are vying for the mayorship of Peshawar.
