DAGGAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) forward bloc nominee Syed Salar Jehan was elected as tehsil nazim in Gagra by defeating the party nominated candidate here on Sunday.
The forward bloc nominated candidate Syed Salar Jehan obtained nine votes out of 15 with the support of Awami National Party (ANP), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). He defeated the PTI ticker holder, Bakhtiar Ali Khan.
The ANP nominee Arifullah was elected as naib nazim by defeating his rival Irshad Alam Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by securing 10 of 15 votes.
The election was held at the Government High School Gagra. The Returning Officer Jamshed Khan announced the result and administered oath to the elected nazim and naib nazim.
Deputy Commissioner Khaista Rehman Khan and other officials of the district administration and police were also present on the occasion.
Talking to reporters, Salar Jehan said he would run the council smoothly and those in opposition would be given due respect. Regarding the rifts in the PTI, he said that PTI district organiser Mohammad Iqbal Khan and his associates were bent on harming the party.
He expressed concern over the show-cause notices issued to elected members and demanded the party leadership to withdraw the notices. “The PTI would have formed the government in the district if the provincial leadership had acted wisely,” he argued.