PM Imran Khan not happy over PTI performance in KP LB polls

ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the major setback suffered by the ruling PTI in the first phase of the local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan Tuesday admitted that his party paid the price for making mistakes in the polls.

Taking to Twitter, PM Imran said that the selection of wrong candidates was the core reason behind their defeat in the elections in the province.

The premier's statement came after the results showed that the PTI could not grab a single mayor seat out of the four contested in Sunday polls. The party could win one tehsil in Peshawar out of six tehsils in the city - from where it won all the seats in the 2018 General Elections.

“PTI made mistakes in 1st phase of KP LG elections and paid the price,” wrote the prime minister. He vowed to personally oversee the PTI's election strategy in the second phase of KP local bodies polls and the LG elections across Pakistan.

“From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI's LG election strategy in 2nd phase of KP LG elections and LG elections across Pakistan. InshaAllah PTI will come out stronger,” he added.  

Why did PTI lose in KP local bodies polls?

A day earlier, shedding light on the reasons behind ruling PTI’s failure in the first phase of the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz had admitted that internal strife was the core reason behind the setback suffered by the party in the province.

Talking to journalists, Shibli Faraz had said that the "PTI contested elections against PTI" in the province.

“PTI would have won elections in 14 districts had this not been the case,” he had added. The minister had said that they have learnt a lesson from the elections, adding that they would change their strategy for the next elections in the province.

He had said that they will focus on party discipline and will activate the lower cadre of the party. Giving reasons behind the defeat in the elections, the minister had admitted that the party failed to activate its workers.

He, however, had claimed that PTI was the most popular party in the country, adding that the overall performance of the party was better in the elections. The party’s discipline will be maintained at all costs in the next elections, vowed Shibli Faraz.

JUI-F takes unassailable lead as PTI suffers major setback

According to unofficial and unconfirmed results, the opposition parties, particularly JUI-F, have taken an unassailable lead in Khyber Pakhtunkwa's ongoing local body elections, leaving PTI behind.

Awami National Party's (ANP) Himayatullah has been elected as the mayor in Mardan with 56,458 votes, followed by the JUI-F's Amanat Shah Haqqani with 49,938 votes, according to unofficial results. 

The JUI-F's candidates secured the remaining three seats of mayor in Kohat, Bannu and Peshawar, according to unofficial results.

The results, however, for the election of mayor in Peshawar have been withheld by the ECP on account of the postponement of polling on some polling stations due to a law and order situation there.

The JUI-F's candidate Sher Zaman grabbed the mayor seat in Kohat with 34,434 votes and Irfanullah Durrani won in Bannu with 59,844 votes. Independent candidate Saifullah Jan trailed Zaman with 25,793 votes and PTI's Iqbal Jadoon could secure 47,398 votes, trailing Durrani in Bannu.

In Peshawar, JUI-F's candidate Zubair Ali bagged as many as 62,388 votes - a wide margin of over 10,000 votes over PTI's Muhammad Rizwan Bangash, who is the runner-up and has amassed 50,659 votes, according to unofficial results.

Out of 521, the unofficial results of 515 polling stations have been released for the city mayor. Results from six polling stations have been withheld.

There are five city councils in the province, however, the elections are taking place only on four as the polls in Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after ANP's candidate for mayor, Umar Khittab Sherani was shot dead.

In the 64 tehsil council unofficial results obtained so far, the JUI-F has emerged victorious in 16 tehsil council seats while the PTI has won in 14.

Independent candidates have won 10, ANP six, PML-N three, Jamaat-e-Islami two, and Tehreek-e-Istiqlal in the tehsil council elections.