Recounting in PK-53 underway

MARDAN: The recounting process of the votes in PK-53 by-election continued on the second day on Thursday. In the 2018 general elections, ANP provincial president won both the national and provincial assembly seats. Later, he vacated the provincial assembly seat PK-53. Six candidates including Abdus Salam Afridi of PTI and Ahmed Khan Bahadur of ANP contested the by-election on the seat. Returning Officer (RO) Abdul Rauf Khan announced the results and declared the ANP candidate successful, however, late night the RO announced another result and declared PTI candidate Abdus Salam Afridi to be the winner. According to the first result announced by RO, ANP candidate secured 19,065 votes and the PTI candidate secured 19,044 ballots, and the ANP candidate won with 21 votes. And in the second result, the PTI candidate secured 19,192 votes against 19,131 of the ANP candidate. Ahmed Khan Bahadur and ANP office-bearers stated that according to the Election Act 2017, the RO has no authority to declare another result. According to sources, recounting of 26 polling stations was completed and the winning vote margin of PTI candidate Abdus Salam Afridi had decreased while recounting at several stations was underway.