PESHAWAR: Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, by taking suo motu notice of ban on women voting in some constituencies of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has ordered to withhold results and arrest those behind the act on Thursday.

The chief election commissioner, on the directive of the chief justice Peshawar High Court, has withheld the by-polls results in NA-5 Nowshera, NA-27 Lakki Marwat and PK-27 Mardan.

The PHC chief justice has ordered to arrest Tribal Jirga members or individuals involved in barring women form voting in the said constituencies.

The District Police Officers, the CCPO, Home Secretary and the concerned deputy commissioners were summoned by the chief justice and ordered to arrest those found involved in the unlawful act.

Women voters were reportedly absent from the polling stations in some parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as in the May 2013 elections, because they were barred from polling either as a result of a ban imposed or an understanding between the contesting candidates that women voters should not be allowed to come out for voting on the pretext of social or cultural norms.

Secretary of Election Commission of Pakistan, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan had said that action would be taken against those found involved in stopping the women from casting votes after receiving solid evidences.