Polling ends; counting underway for LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: The polling time for the first phase of the local government election in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) amid tight security today (Sunday) has ended, while the counting of votes is underway.

The polling began at 8am and continued until 5pm without any break. The balloting was underway smoothly and peacefully in most of the districts in the province. 

However, chaotic scenes unfolded in some districts which resulted in four people being dead, while three others sustained injuries.

A female presiding officer deputed at a women's polling station in Peshawar was arrested along with her husband over allegations of rigging.

Unofficial results

According to unofficial, preliminary results for four major cities' mayoral race, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) has the upper hand in Peshawar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Bannu, Awami National Party (ANP) in Mardan and an independent candidate in Kohat.

In Peshawar, according to the unofficial results from 69 out of 521 polling stations, Zubair Ali of JUI is leading the race with 6,237 votes while PTI's Rizwan Bangash is second with 5,638 votes.

In Bannu, according to unofficial results from 75 polling stations out of 286, PTI's Iqbal Jadoon Khan is leading with 14,623 votes and JUI is close behind with 14,426 votes.

In Mardan, according to the unofficial results from 10 out of 414 polling stations, ANP's Himayatullah Mayar is ahead with 1,708 votes while JUIF's Amanat Shah Haqqani is in second place with 1070 votes.

In Kohat, according to unofficial results from 75 of 265 polling stations, independent candidate Shafiullah Jan is in the lead with 8,583 votes and Sher Zaman of JUI is in second place with 8,087 votes.

Geo News reported receiving the unofficial results of 28 Village Councils, according to which 11 independent candidates have been elected to village council seats.

Furthermore, according to the results received, JUI and ANP have won 6 each, PTI 3, and Jamaat-e-Islami and PML-N one village council seat each.

Geo News also reported receiving the unofficial results of 16 neighbourhood Councils, according to which nine independent candidates have won Neighborhood Council seats.

Three candidates from JUI, and one each from ANP, PPP, PTI and PML-N have been elected to the Neighborhood Council.

The polls

Around 79,479 policemen and personnel of other security forces have been deployed for security during the LG polls.

The elections for the slot of mayor city council Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after the death of Awami National Party's candidate, Mohammad Umar Khitab, in an attack on Saturday. Security in DIK and other districts was upgraded after the incident.

As per the Election Commission of Pakistan, 2,507 polling stations had been declared most sensitive, 4,188 sensitive while 528 have been categorized as normal.

A total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths had been set up for the polls being held in half of the districts of the province.

The polls will be held in the rest of the KP next month. As many as 860 polling stations have been declared sensitive,165 most sensitive while 224 have been placed in the normal category in Peshawar.

Around 11,000 policemen and personnel of other forces had been deployed for security during polls in Peshawar.

An official said apart from the police, Frontier Constabulary personnel would be deployed in over 200 most sensitive polling stations in the provincial capital. Deployment to all the polling stations has been completed.

Besides, the Ababeel squad, rapid response force and other forces will also remain alert to rush in case of any mishap in an area. The cops have been directed not to allow brandishing of weapons, aerial firing or creating any law and order.

For the first time, the cops from the erstwhile tribal areas have also been deployed in different districts of the province for election security duty.

This is for the first time that LG polls are being held in districts of erstwhile Fata.

As per the ECP, there are a total of 12.66 million registered voters, 7. 015 males and 5.653 females, in the 17 districts.

As many as 37,752 candidates are in the run for different categories in the first phase of the polls. Among these 689 are in the run to lead the city and tehsil councils while 19,285 candidates are in the run for the slot of general councillors, chairman in village and neighbourhood councils.

Besides, 3,905 candidates are flexing their muscles for the seats for women councillors, 7513 for peasant councillors, 6081 for youth councillors and 282 for minority councillors.

As per reports, 876 women councillors have already been elected unopposed in different village and neighbourhood councils across the province. A large number of minority councillors have been elected unopposed.

Presiding officer arrested  for alleged rigging in Peshawar

A presiding officer deputed at a women's polling station in Peshawar was arrested along with her husband over allegations of rigging, long before the polling for the ongoing local government election started, Geo News reported Saturday night.

A heavy police party arrived at a polling station in the city's neighbourhood council 34, Tehsil Gor Khatri Saturday night soon after the alleged pre-poll rigging was protested by the leaders and workers of different political parties on Saturday night over reports of ballot papers being stamped in favour of PTI's candidate.

The police took the accused presiding officer and her husband into custody and shifted them to a police station, keeping them safe from the angry mob.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took notice of the matter and changed the entire polling staff at the affected polling station.

According to Daily Jang, the opposition party workers caught the polling staff red-handed while allegedly stamping on the election symbol for a particular party's candidate for the slot of the mayor city council on Saturday night.

The protestors tried to enter the polling station but the police kept them outside. At this, they blocked the road adjacent to it and started shouting slogans.

Meanwhile, the relevant assistant commissioner also arrived on the spot.

PPP leader accuses PTI of rigging  

Speaking to Geo News on the incident, PPP's Nighat Orakzai claimed PTI workers were casting 5,000 "fake votes" in favour of their candidate.

"The [PTI members] were casting fake votes since morning [...] the assistant commissioner has said that respective returning officers would be punished," she added.

'Opposition is  playing tricks,' says  KP chief minister 

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister for Information Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said that the opposition was playing tricks to allay their fears of failure in the election. He said that the entire polling staff is deputed at the behest of the ECP.

Said said that ECP is an autonomous body and is responsible for holding free and fair elections.

He said that the government is fulfilling all its responsibilities to hold the election peacefully and will ensure the investigations into the alleged pre-poll rigging.