Recounting votes: Former K-P minister loses provincial seat

ANP’s candidate Khushdil Khan declared a winner on PK-70

PESHAWAR: Over a week after the general elections concluded and provisional results had handed a seat in the provincial capital to former information minister Shah Farman, the seat was awarded to his rival following a recount.

Awami National Party (ANP) candidate from PK-70 Khushdil Khan Advocate had secured 15,357 votes compared to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Farman who had secured 47 more votes, or 15,404 votes, per the provisional results recorded in form-47.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had stated that in the constituency, there was a turnout of 45.64 per cent and that a total of 50,717 votes had been polled on July 25. Of these, 2,095 votes had been rejected for being improper. This made the constituency part of the seats where the margin of victory was smaller than the number of invalid votes rejected. At least six national assembly seats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had smaller margins of victory than the number of rejected votes.

In view of this, Khushdil had demanded a recount in the constituency.  In the subsequent recount, the total tally of votes for both the candidates fell. Khushdil's final tally of votes fell to 14,871 votes, a loss of 486 votes.

Farman, though, was worse off. From the 15,404 votes he had been awarded in the provisional results, the former PTI minister saw his lead erode as the recount left him with just 14,684, down by 720 votes.

Khushdil was thus declared as the winner of PK-70 by a margin of 187 votes.

In third place, MMA candidate Jan Afzal saw his vote tally fall from 6,452 to 6,341 votes, down by 111 votes.

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian’s (PPPP) Ghazanfar Ali saw his vote rally grow by 101 votes from 6,443 to 6,542 votes.

The ECP’s notification also noted that the total number of correct votes polled had fallen from 48,622 votes to 47,047 votes. The tally of invalid votes polled rose from 2,095 votes to 3,613 votes.

With nine candidates in the running for the seat, other candidates including Rajmali Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League has got 260 votes, Noorul Amin of the QWP secured 360 votes, Shahid Khan of PML-N has got 1,686 votes, independent candidate Daud Burki secured 50 votes, Muhammad Shafique of the Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan secured a total of 2,495 votes.

Despite the loss of PK-70, Farman will still be able to make it into the K-P provincial assembly since he had also won on the adjoining seat of PK-71 where he secured 17,309 votes. His nearest competitor here was Siffatullah of the PML-N who got 9,202 votes.

As many as 1,938 votes polled in the constituency had been termed as invalid with a turnout as low as 38.14 per cent and 48,567 correct votes polled.

After the ANP gained another seat, its total tally of seats in the provincial assembly has risen to seven, allowing it to secure two reserved seats for women.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2018.