PTI councilor de-seated over ‘invalid votes’

Arif Mardanvi is also wanted by police in connection with Mashal Khan’s lynching

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehrek-e-Insaf (PTI) tehsil councilor Arif Mardanvi has been de-seated by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over ‘invalid’ votes.

Mardanvi is also one of the main suspects over the April 2017 lynching of university student Mashal Khan in Mardan.

Mardan’s District Election Commissioner Abdur Rauf confirmed to The Express Tribune that Mardanvi lost his seat at the Muslimabad Tehsil Council after the ECP heard a petition, asking for the recounting of votes, from the opponents.



“Saleem Turo of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) is now the winner, with a lead of 33 votes after the recount,” Rauf said, adding that Turo had initially lost by 46 votes. The recounted votes were announced on November 7.

Furthermore, he said that many of the votes that led to Mardanvi winning were invalid and were not recounted.

ECP Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter spokesperson Sohail Khan told The Express Tribune that the recounted results will be sent to ECP so that they can send an official notification to the newly elected councilor.



Mardanvi is wanted by the Mardan police in connection with Mashal Khan’s murder, who was lynched to death by a mob in April over blasphemy allegations.

Charges against Mardanvi were dropped in the Joint Investigation Report submitted to the court by the police. Out of the accused, 57 were arrested and their trial is underway.

A few days after the incident, a video surfaced on the social media, showing that Mardanvi actually provoked the mob against Khan. Six months have passed since the murder but the police are yet to arrest him.