Women vote for first time in parts of KP, tribal districts

PESHAWAR: Female voters were able to vote for the first time in certain places in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal districts, formerly known as Fata.

Pictures of veiled women going to the polling stations in the Baizai area of Mohmand Agency sited close to the border with Afghanistan emerged on the social media.

It was stated that these fully covered women had never voted in the past in this area.

Also, pictures of female voters sitting at polling stations in South Waziristan and North Waziristan were also made available to the media. This sight was stated to be unusual as religious and cultural traditions were mentioned in the past to justify the ban on female voting.

In Upper Dir district, women reportedly voted for the first time in certain villages. A female candidate was also fielded by the PTI in a provincial assembly constituency in Upper Dir.

In other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the newly merged tribal agencies, more women voted in this election than the previous polls.

The political parties and candidates unlike the past didn’t make any agreements not to allow voting by the women.

They rather encouraged families to allow women to vote keeping in view the new rules announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan.