SARGODHA / SUKKUR: Repol­ling was held in several polling stations of the National Assembly constituency NA-88 (Khushab-II) and the provincial assembly constituencies PS-18 (Ghotki-I) and PK-90 (Kohat-I) on Thursday, as ordered by the Election Commission.

In a statement on Feb 10, the ECP said that elections would be reconducted in 26 polling stations of NA-88 as the “polling material had been burned by a crowd in the returning officer’s room”.

It said that polls would also be held again in two polling stations of PS-18 as “unknown men had snatched polling material” allocated for those stations. Similarly, repolling was also ordered in 25 polling stations of PK-90 because the “polling material for 15 polling stations was damaged by terrorists”.

On Thursday, polling began in the three constituencies at 8am and concluded at 5pm. The ECP spokesperson confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in the morning that polling was under way peacefully in the 53 polling stations in the three constituencies.

NA-88 (Khushab)

In the NA-88 constituency, all the divisional PML-N leaders, including the MNA- and MPA-elect of NA-87 and PP-82, were present in the constituency to persuade voters on Thursday. How­ever, PTI-backed candidate Muh­ammad Akram was not allowed to move into the constituency.

Unconfirmed results indicated that Mr Kallu was leading in most of the 26 stations.

PS-18 (Ghotki)

The two polling stations where repolling was held in PS-18 fell in the Ubouro taluka of Ghotki district.

PPP candidate Shehryar Khan Shar got 522 votes in the polling station 162 in the Chakar Kolachi village, followed by 374 votes secured by independent candidate Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar.

In the polling station 161, in the Ali Murad Kalhoro village, Mr Shar got 283 votes while Mr Dahar got 773.

Voting was halted at these two polling stations on the election day, on Feb 8, due to clashes between supporters of different candidates, prompting the Elec­tion Commission to order a repolling at the two polling stations.

Unofficial tallies show Mr Dahar won the seat with 57,143 votes, with Mr Shar trailing slightly with 55,190.

SSP Ghotki Muhammad Anwar Khetran implemented stringent security measures to ensure a smooth voting process. Apart from police officials, several Pakistan Rangers and Army officials were also deputed during the repolling exercise.

In a statement, the SSP also ad­­dressed rumours that clashes had occurred at the repolling sites.

Sources said that Sukkur Commissioner Fayyaz Ahmed Abbasi and DIG Abdul Hameed Khoso also visited the polling stations to oversee the voting process and security arrangements.

PK-90 (Kohat)

In the provincial constituency PK-90, PTI-backed independent candidate Aftab Alam Afridi was facing PPP’s Amjad Khan Afridi and the JUI-F’s Muhammad Shoaib, according to a Dawn.com report.

Others in the race include the Jamaat-i-Islami’s Nazia Bibi and Awami National Party’s Yaqoob Khan.

Polling in the stations located in the Darra Adamkhel tribal subdivision had been halted after they were vandalised and ballot boxes were taken away during the Feb 8 elections.

However, the set number of “25 polling stations was converted into eight due to security reasons”, according to Kohat Deputy Commissioner Azmatullah Wazir.

He further said that strict security arrangements were in place at all polling stations.

A notification issued by DC Wazir on Feb 13 also stated that the 25 polling stations were being “merged” into eight.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024