Security deposit of 19 candidates forfeited

HANGU: The District Election Commission forfeited the security deposit of 19 candidates as they had failed to secure the required votes from the total ballots cast in the PK-110 constituency in July 20 election in the merged districts.

Talking to The News on Monday, District Election Commissioner Orakzai district, Farid Khattak, said that a total of 24 candidates had submitted nomination papers along with security deposits amounting to Rs20,000 each to contest the election for the PK-110 in Orakzai district for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly seats.

He said that Syed Ghazi Ghazan Jamal won the election as an independent candidate and later he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

The official said four other candidates, including Habib Noor (independent), Johar Abbas (independent), Shoaib Hassan (PTI) and Shauban Ali (PPP) secured one-fourth of the total votes while the remaining 19 failed to obtain the required number of votes.

He said those candidates, who failed to receive the required percentage had contested the election from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and others could hardly obtain over 300 votes and thus their security had been forfeited.

“According to Section 43 of the Representation of People Act 1976, any candidate who fails to get one-eighth (12.5 per cent) of the total votes cast in a constituency from where they contested the polls, would have to forego the security deposit”, Khattak said, adding, the 19 candidates would not be refunded their security deposit.