Polling for 3 NA seats held peacefully in K-P

Low turnout was seen as voters stayed aloof

CHARSADDA/MARDAN/ PESHAWAR:

Polling for three National Assembly seats of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) was held largely in a peaceful environment as overall a low turnout was witnessed in all the three constituencies in Peshawar, Mardan and Charssada on Sunday.

Awami National Party (ANP) leader Asfandyar Wali Khan cast his vote and talked to media. This is for the first time in four years that he appeared before the media as in the 2018 general elections he had fallen ill, and avoided media talks too.

On Saturday he announced that he will vote in the by-election in NA-24 where his son Aimal Wali Khan faced PTI chief Imran Khan in an important political battle.

Asfandyar hit out at Imran Khan and said that he neither attended parliament sessions nor trusted anyone else to be a PTI candidate.

“Imran Khan didn’t deliver so he was expelled through a no-confidence vote from his seat. In the past he claimed that he had a good relationship with army chief and now he is claiming that he had no power,” he said.

Six people were arrested outside different polling stations over display of weapons.

Earlier polling staff reached the polling stations late due to which the voting was started late. There was no hustle and bustle at the polling stations in the morning but later increased activity was witnessed.

There were a total of 384 polling stations in the constituency. Around 4,000 policemen had been deployed for poll duty.

Similarly, in NA-31 Peshawar a lower than expected turnout was seen and the general public didn’t show any interest in the by-polls.

There were a few cases of scuffle between rival party workers at some police stations but overall the polling process went smoothly.

Provincial Election Commissioner Faridullah visited different polling stations and inspected the process of voting. He said that excellent arrangements had been made for the by-polls but the ban on smartphones in polling stations should have been enforced strictly.

He said that police and security forces cooperated with the ECP but a few pictures of political leaders casting their votes had appeared despite the fact that there was a ban on mobile phones in polling booths.

The pictures of ANP leader Samar Haroon Bilour, Aimal Wali Khan and Ghulam Ahmad Bilour appeared on social media in which they could be seen casting their votes.

Even videos were shared by party workers and leaders.

PTI leaders and workers also shared their videos and pictures inside polling stations on their Twitter handles.

ECP has directed district returning officer and returning officer to submit a report on the issue.

Similarly, polling was also completed peacefully in the NA-22 Mardan constituency. A total of 333 polling stations had been established for the purpose and polling started on time at around 8am in the morning and ended at 6pm in the evening without disruption.

PDM’s candidate Maulana Qasim cast his vote in Shergarh. PTI Chairman Imran Khan was the party candidate from all the three NA seats in K-P by-polls.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2022.