ECP says over 10pc women exercise voting right

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Sunday that more than 10 per cent women voters cast their ballots in the July 20 election in the merged districts.

It said that 44.5 per cent voter turnout was recorded in PK-109, Kurram-2 which was the highest while the lowest turnout was recorded in PK-111, North Waziristan-1, which was 16.9 per cent.

ECP KP Deputy Director, Naveedur Rehman, told The News that the Section-9 of the Election Act 2017 required the ECP to declare an election null and void if the women’s turnout in a constituency was less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled.

The election was held on July 20 for 16 general seats of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the merged districts.

The constituencies included PK-100, PK-101 and PK-102 in Bajaur, PK-103 and PK-104 in Mohmand, PK-105, PK-106 and PK-107 in Khyber, PK-108 and PK-109 in Kurram, PK-110 in Orakzai, PK-111 and PK-112 in North Waziristan, PK-113 and PK-114 in South Waziristan and PK-115 comprising the former Frontier Regions (FRs).

According to the ECP, there were 61,300 registered women voters in PK-100, Bajaur-1.Of them, 12,638 polled their votes. The turnout was 24.2 per cent.

Similarly, in PK-101, Bajaur-2, 66,698 female voters were registered of whom only 11,733 cast their votes and the turnout was 24.9 per cent.

In PK-102 Bajaur-3, total women registered voters were 91,361. Up to 20,962 of them voted, putting the turnout at 30.9 per cent.

A total of 42,008 female voters were registered in PK-103 Mohmaand-1. Only 12,267 of them cast their vote. This made the turnout 30.6 per cent.

Similarly, in PK-104 Mohmand-2, there were 63,273 women voters. Up to 12,187 women exercised their right to vote. The turnout remained 25.4 per cent.

In PK-105 Khyber-1, as many as 72,970 female voters were registered. Up to 15,402 voted and the turnout was 33.6 per cent.

There were 65,652 women voters in PK-106 Khyber-2. A total of 8,480 voted. The overall turnout was 24.4 per cent.

Up to 92,450 women voters were registered in PK-107, Khyber-3 while only 6,498 women cast vote. The turnout was 17.2 per cent.

Similarly, in PK-108 of Kurram-1, the women registered voters were 73,363. Of them 15,913 cast votes. The turnout was 35 per cent.

There were 82,560 women voters in PK-109, Kurram-2. Up to 33,536 voted and the turnout was 44.5 per cent.

In PK-110 of Orakzai, as many as 85,695 female voters were registered. A total of 16,537 cast their votes and the overall turnout was 35 per cent.

Similarly, in PK-111, North Waziristan-1, the women registered voters were 48,208. Of them only 6,244 cast their votes and the turnout was 16.9 per cent. It was the lowest turnout in the merged districts.

In PK-112 North Waziristan-2, the women registered voters were 61,313.

There were 96,638 women voters in PK-113 South Waziristan-1.

Similarly in PK-114 South Waziristan-2, as many as 52,422 female voters were registered. However, the results of these three seats were awaited so it could not be known as to how many women cast their votes.

Up to 74,618 women voters were registered in PK-115 former Frontier Regions. A total of 15,780 women cast their ballots. The turnout was 33.4 per cent.