PK-23: PTI's Shaukat Yousufzai wins in Shangla re-poll

Yousafzai wins by margin of over 20,000 votes

PESHAWER: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Shaukat Yousufzai has stood victorious in the PK-23 (Shangla-1) re-poll held on Monday after the election authorities declared the previous polls at the constituency void due to less participation of women.

Yousafzai, who also won from the constituency in the July 25 general elections, bagged 45,946 votes, according to preliminary results.

He secured over 20,289 more votes than his closest rival, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Rashad Khan, who got 25,667 votes.

District Returning Officer Naseem Khan announced the victory of Yousafzai, K-P’s former health minister, over his rival candidate, who was also supported by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Jamaat-e-Islami and the Awami National Party.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) provincial wing, the voting process began at 8 am and continued till 6pm without pause.



Owing to poor turnout of women, the ECP had cancelled the results of the July 25 election in PK-23.

Of the 86,698 registered women voters, only 3,505 women had cast their vote in the mountainous and conservative K-P district. The participation of women was less than the 10 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency — 69,827, as mandated by the Elections Act 2017.

However, during the re-polling, the Shangla-1 constituency at Tehsil Alpurai witnessed a substantial number of voting by women for the first time.

Earlier, Yousafzai, while talking to the media during his visits to various polling stations, blamed the ECP for not making proper arrangements for women voters during the general elections.

“If the ECP fails even to get the required percentage for women votes in the re-election who is to be blamed,” he asked.

Yousafzai said women’s participation in the re-election process had made history in the provincial politics. “Peoples’ full support to the PTI has shown their confidence in the PTI’s performance in K-P. We promise that we will bring country into self-reliance,” he added.

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