JUI-F leads local government polls in K-P

Unofficial results show PTI losing dominance in local government

PESHAWAR/SWABI:

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) emerged victorious in the local government elections held in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on Sunday, unofficial results revealed. As per the results which continued to pour in till midnight, JUI-F managed to secure seven tehsil chairman slots while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) managed to secure six. Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) both managed to secure two slots, while two independent candidates also secured two slots. Among JUI-F’s seven tehsils, two were from Peshawar.

Results for mayoral election of Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu and Mardan City did not emerge by the time of filing of this report. Elections in Bannu district’s Baka Khel Wazir tehsil were suspended over security concerns while mayoral election in Dera Ismail Khan was postponed due to the murder of an ANP candidate. Elections were held in Bajaur, Bannu, Buner, Charsadda, DI Khan, Hangu, Haripur, Karak, Khyber, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Mardan, Mohmand, Nowshera, Peshawar, Swabi and Tank.

JUI-F managed to clinch Bannu’s Baka Khel Wazir where Malik Mastoo Khan emerged victorious. Other JUI-F candidates who managed to win were Hamza Asif Khan, whho emerged victorious in Charsadda’s Shabqadar tehsil, Mufti Imran Mohammad in Hangu’s Thall tehsil, Maulana Mubarak Ahmad in Mardan’s Rustam tehsil, Hafiz Taj Wali in Mohmand’s Upper Mohmand tehsil, Kaleem Ullah in Peshawar’s Shah Alam tehsil and Fareed Ullah in Peshawar’s Mahtra tehsil.

PTI won in Nowshera’s tehsil Nowshera City where Federal Defence Minister Pervez Khattak’s son Ishaq Khattak won. PTI’s Kamran Razzak won in Jehangira, Salaar Jahan won in Buner’s Gagra tehsil, Sher Alam in Gadezai tehsil and Razi Khan won in Daggar tehsil. JI won in DI Khan’s tehsil Daraban, where Ehsan Ullah Miankhel clinched victory. Two independent candidates -- Peer Kamal Shah in Bannu’s Miryan tehsil and Amir Ghani in Hangu -- also managed to emerge victorious.

ANP’s Ghulam Haqqani won in Swabi’s Razar tehsil by defeating Iqbal Buland, the cousin of K-P Education Minister Shahram Tarakai. Haqqani recieved 22,743 votes while Iqbal got 13,023 votes. In Lahore tehsil, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Adil Khan got 3,628 votes and PTI’s Sohail Khan got 3,500 votes, as per the result of 29 polling stations. In Topi tehsil, JUI-F’s Muhammad Rahim got 8,364 votes while PTI’s Sohail Yousafzai got 3,705 votes, as per the result of 37 polling stations. In Swabi tehsil, PTI’s Attaullah Khan got 9,100 votes while PML-N’s Rab Nawaz Khan got 5,687 votes, as per the result of 35 polling stations. A lot of polling stations in Swabi tehsil could not furnish their results on time because the polling agents were not given Form 17.