Across KP, DI Khan constituencies witness highest, lowest turnout

PESHAWAR: Two constituencies of Dera Ismail Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed the highest and lowest turnout in the by-elections held on October 14.

The turnout on PK-97 was the lowest among all the constituencies of the province, i.e. 17.41 per cent. The registered voters in PK-97 were 155,032 and polled votes were 26,996. The rejected votes were 316. PTI's Faisal Amin Khan won the seat with 18,124 votes while the runner-up of the Pakistan People's Party Farhan Afzal Malik got 7,952 votes.

The only constituency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the turnout was reasonable was PK-99, Dera Ismail Khan where the PTI's Aghaz Ikramullah Gandapur got 33,289 votes while the runner-up, an independent candidate Fatehullah Khan, secured 24, 976 votes. The turnout was 43.35 percent. The registered voters are 158,670 and polled votes are 68,786 while 1,585 votes were rejected.

The turnout in PK-3, Swat, was 30.44 per cent. Out of the total 146,180 registered voters, 44,493 voters cast ballots in the by-election. Of these polled ballots, 1,092 were rejected. The winner Sardar Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz bagged 16,859 votes while the runner-up of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sajid Ali secured 15,696 votes.

The total registered voters in PK-7, Swat, are 155,719 while the polled votes were 35,722. The turnout was 22.94 percent. Waqar Ahmad Khan of ANP secured 13,997 votes and PTI's Fazal Maula got 13,663 votes.

The turnout in PK-44, Swabi, was 18.18 percent where registered voters are 202,601. The total polled votes are 36,840 while the invalid votes were 540. The PTI's Aqibullah Khan managed to get 18,723 votes while the runner-up of the ANP Ghulam Hassan got 17,093 votes.

The turnout in PK-53, Mardan, was 26.07 percent where total registered voters are 153,352. Of these registered voters, 39,978 polled their votes, out of which 544 were declared invalid. PTI's Muhammad Abdus Salam polled 19,192 votes and runner-up of ANP Ahmad Khan Bahadur got 19,131 votes.

The turnout on PK-61, Nowshera, was 17.64 percent where registered voters are 139,511 while 24,605 voters cast their ballots. Of the polled ballots, 426 were rejected as invalid. Muhammad Ibrahim Khattak bagged 14,713 votes and ANP's Noor Alam Khan got 9,466 votes.

Of the 160,726 registered voters in PK-64, Nowshera, 32,936 individuals cast their votes while 601 votes were rejected. The turnout was 20.49 percent. PTI's Liaqat Khattak secured 22,775 votes and ANP's Muhammad Shahid got 9,560 votes.

The turnout in PK-78, Peshawar, was recorded 22.46 percent. The registered voters are 175,379 while the polled votes are 38,932. Out of the polled votes, 409 were rejected as invalid. The ANP's Samar Haroon Bilour got 20,915 votes while PTI's Muhammad Irfan got 16,819 votes.