Daily Times

A delegation of Awami National Party (ANP) led by Provincial Senior Vice President Khushdil Khan Advocate here on Tuesday visited at JUI Center to seeks support in PK-7 by-elections.The delegation held a meeting with Provincial General Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F, Ata-ul-Haq Darwish. Provincial Deputy General Secretary Asif Iqbal Daudzai, Provincial spokesperson Abdul Jalil Jan, Maulana Amanullah Haqqani and former Provincial Minister Maulana Ahmad Ali Darwish were present in the meeting. The delegation also included Provincial Secretary Finance Mukhtiar Khan, Provincial spokesperson Samar Haroon Bilour and Provincial Joint Secretary Faisal Zeb Khan.

Members of Provincial Assembly Salahuddin Momand, Shakeel Bashir Khan, Shagufta Malik and former Provincial General Secretary Arbab Muhammad Tahir Khan were also part of the delegation. The JUI leaders sought time from the visiting ANP delegation for consultation with central leadership. It is worth mentioning here that the nomination process for the by-election on the vacant seat of PK-7, Swat-IV constituency of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will start from May 19. Nominations will be accepted from May 19 to May 21, 2022 and the voting will end on June 26. The Returning Officer will issue a public notice on May 17. The names of the candidates will be published on May 22, 2022 while the nomination papers will be scrutinized by May 25, 2022 and an appeal can be filed against the approval or rejection of the papers by May 28, 2022. The Appellate Tribunal will rule on the appeals by June 1 and the revised list of candidates will be released on June 2 while the candidates will be able to withdraw their nomination papers till June 3, an official of the provincial election commission said.

The final list of candidates will be released on June 4 and they will be allotted the election symbols. The seat fell vacant following the death of Waqar Ahmad Khan, a member of the Provincial Assembly. It is to be noted that Dr. Amjad Ali was elected MPA from PK- 7 District Swat KPK in the general election 2018 but he vacated the seat and this constituency became vacant. The Bye election was held in PK-7 Swat on October 14, 2018. Waqar Ahmad Khan was elected MPA from PK-7 Swat-VI in an election held on October 14, 2018. But this constituency PK-7 Swat became vacant due to the death of Waqar Ahmed Khan. So bye election was held in PK 7 Swat. Waqar Ahmad Khan of ANP secured 13997 votes, followed by Fazal e Maula of PTI, the runners-up, taking 13663 votes while Fazal Akbar (Independent) got 5178 votes and Saeed Ahmad Khan (Independent) took 1964 votes respectively.