The vote count for the second phase of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local government elections started after the polling ended at 5pm in 18 districts.
In the first phase of the local bodies’ election in December last year, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) had clinched the victory with 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons and three mayoral seats. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had suffered a major setback and won the only mayoral seat in Dera Ismail Khan and 18 seats of tehsil chairpersons.
In the second phase on Thursday, the polls are being held in 65 tehsils of 18 districts. The elections are being held in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts.
According to unofficial and unverified results, vote counts for the following mayoral seats are:
Babuzai Tehsil: PTI’s Shahid Ali is leading the vote count on ten polling stations with 1,099 votes, followed by JUI-F’s Moulana Hajjat Ullah with 793 votes.
Abbottabad: PML-N candidate is leading the vote count on 35 polling stations with 6,155 votes, followed by the PTI candidate with 6,084 votes.
According to unofficial and unverified results, vote counts for the following tehsil chairmanship seats are: Dargai Tehsil: PTI’s Muhammad Islam Ghazi is leading the vote count on three polling stations with 528 votes, followed by PPP’s Ahmed Ali Shah with 160 votes.
Balambat Tehsil: PTI’s Asim Shoaib is leading the vote count from one polling station with 372, followed by JUI-F candidate Imran Uddin with 288 votes.
Mansehra District: PTI’s Kamal Saleem Khan is leading the vote count on four polling stations with 776 votes, followed by PML-N’s Sheikh Shafi with 396 votes.
Havelian Tehsil: Independent candidate Atif Munsif is leading the vote count on 19 polling stations with 3,874 votes, followed by PTI’s Aslam Zar Khan with 3,384 votes.
Manda Tehsil: PTI’s Obaidur Rehman is leading the vote count from one polling station with 83 votes, followed by JUI-F candidate Humayu with 45 votes.
Matta Tehsil: PTI is leading the vote count on 14 polling stations with 3,847 votes, followed by JUI-F with 1,309 votes.
Lower Tanawal: PTI candidate is leading the vote count on 27 polling stations with 4,787 votes, followed by an independent candidate with 4,340 votes.
The Provincial Election Commission was expecting as many as eight million registered voters to exercise their right to vote in these districts.
A total of 8,057,974 registered voters, including male 4,489,771 and female 3,567,703, are all set to elect mayors and chairmen in 65 tehsils and candidates on 1,830 village and neighborhood councils seats.
Over 561 candidates are in the run for 65 tehsil seats, 12,980 for general seats, 2,668 for women seats, 6,451 for farmers or labourer seats, 5,213 for youth seats and 57 for minorities seats.
At least 351 candidates have been elected unopposed on general seats, 533 candidates on women seats, 233 youth seats, 50 minorities seats and 151 pm labourer or farmer seats.
The ECP has set up 6,176 polling stations, including 1,246 for males, 1,164 for females and 3,766 combined polling stations for the facilitation of voters.
The ECP election plan envisions 16,509 polling booths, including 9,218 for males and 7,291 for females to facilitate voters.
Out of these polling stations, 1,646 have been declared most sensitive while 2,326 are sensitive. Therefore, strict security arrangements are made.
Over 53 candidates are competing for the chairmanship in seven tehsils of Lower Dir: Adenzai, Timergara, Blambat, Manda, Samarbagh, Lal Qila and Khal.
PML-N, Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Allaho Akbar Tehreek, Tehreek-e-Labaik and Nazarya-e-Pakistan are some of the leading political parties to contest the polls.
In five tehsils, disgruntled workers have formed a PTI-Nazriyati group to field independent candidates who would be competing with PTI ticketholders
It is also interesting to note that candidates from four tehsils are contesting on the same symbol of Pomegranate.
The number of politicians vying for tehsil chairmanship stands as follows: Timergara and Adenzai 13 each, Blambat 7, Manda 6, Samarbagh 9, Tehsil Lal Qila 11 and Khaal Tehsil 6. The electioneering formally comes to an end at midnight Wednesday after which no candidate would be allowed to address public meetings or hold rallies but they can run door to door canvassing campaign.