Three KP constituencies to witness third election since 2018

PESHAWAR: Three constituencies of the National Assembly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are going to witness voting for the third time since 2018 as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced by-polls in the areas on April 30.

Also, there will be second by-elections in these constituencies within six months.

The ECP has announced the schedule of the polls in NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar after the seats were declared vacant. According to the ECP, polls will be held in the three constituencies on April 30.

The nomination papers for the by-elections can be submitted from March 12 till March 14 while the initial list of candidates will be issued on March 15.

The final list will be issued on April 6 and the same day the candidates will be allotted election symbols. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had won by-elections from these constituencies in October last year. He won six NA seats in the last year polls after he decided to run for seven.

The PTI chairman had defeated Maulana Muhammad Qasim of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl in NA-22 Mardan, provincial president of the Awami National Party Aimal Wali Khan in NA-24 Charsadda and ANP veteran Ghulam Ahmad Bilour in NA-31 Peshawar.

He was supposed to retain one of the seats he had won across the country

while by-polls were to

be held again on the remaining slots.

In last by-polls, Imran Khan secured an easy win in Peshawar where Ghulam Ahmad Bilour was the runner-up. A total of eight candidates were in the run.

The former PM received 57, 824 votes against 32,253 of Ghulam Ahmad Bilour. Muhammad Aslam of Jamaat-e-Islami got 3,817 votes.

The turnout remained 20.28 per cent.

PTI MNA Shaukat Ali had vacated the seat. In NA-22 Mardan, Maulana Qasim of JUIF lost to the PTI chief. There were a total of four candidates for the slot.

Imran Khan got 76,681 votes in NA-22 Mardan after unofficial result of all the 330 polling stations. Maulana Qasim of JUIF got 68,181 votes. The turnout remained 32.94 per cent.

Maulana Qasim had lost the seat to Ali Muhammad Khan of PTI in the 2018 general election.

Four candidates were in the run for the NA-24 Charsadda by-election. Imran Khan got 78,589 votes while ANP’s Aimal Wali polled 68,356 votes. The turnout remained 29.02 per cent.

Fazal Muhammad Khan of PTI had vacated the seat by tendering resignation.

All the 979 polling stations were declared sensitive and most sensitive for the by-elections due to the tension and overall law and order situation.