PTI’s Fakharuzaman wins NA-45 Kurram by-polls

PESHAWAR: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) snatched the National Assembly seat, NA-45 Kurram, from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) when its candidate Malik Fakharuzaman, won the by-election with a margin of more than 1,100 votes.

The seat was won by JUI-F’s Munir Khan Orakzai in the July 2018 general election. In fact, he had thrice won this seat including twice in the past as an independent candidate. His death due to Covid-19 made the seat vacant and the by-election was held.

The unofficial results from NA-45 Kurram from all 134 polling stations showed that PTI’s Malik Fakharuzaman secured 16,911 votes to win the seat. JUI-F’s Mohammad Jamil Chamkani polled 15,761 votes to finish as the runner-up.

Independent candidate Haji Said Jamal in a strong performance obtained 15,560 votes. In fact, he led the count for a while after getting involved in a neck-to-neck race with the PTI contestant. At that stage, the JUI-F candidate was trailing in the third sport before surging ahead and competing with the PTI nominee until the end of counting.

Malik Fakharuzaman after his victory said he will try to fulfil the promises made to the voters during the campaign. He offered thanks to the electorate for showing confidence in him.

The JUI-F rejected the outcome and said their candidate’s win was turned into a defeat at the last minute.

JUI-F chief for the newly merged districts, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, who is also an MNA, said rigging will not be accepted at any cost. He vowed to challenge the result.