Recounting declares PTI candidate winner in Lower Dir

TIMERGARA: The Returning Officer (R.O) for PK-17, Assistant Commissioner Nauman Pervez, on Sunday declared PTI-backed independent candidate Ubaidur Rahman as winner and issued a fresh Form 47.

According to the revised Form 47, issued by the office of the R.O for PK-17, Ubaidur Rahman was declared successful, securing a total of 23,239 votes, with a margin of 2,349 votes against the JI candidate, who secured a total of 19,990 votes.

Previously, JI candidate Izazul Mulk Afkari was declared successful with 25,124 votes. The runner-up, Ubaidur Rahman, backed by PTI, who received 22,981 votes, challenged the results, prompting the RO to schedule a recount for Saturday. Tensions escalated on Saturday as hundreds of Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists converged at the Timergara Rest House, where the returning officer for PK-17 conducted the recounting.

Addressing the workers, JI candidate Aizazul Mulk Afkari alleged that the RO began verifying Form 45 in his absence. He claimed that neither he, nor his agent was present when the process began.

The charged JI workers surrounded the rest house and staged a sit-in, alleging a conspiracy to alter the poll results. A heavy contingent of police and Frontier Corps personnel was deployed in and around the rest house to prevent any untoward incidents.The protesters dispersed peacefully after local JI leaders Malik Bahram Khan and Sahibzda Yaqoob Khan convinced the party workers to seek justice through the courts.