PESHAWAR: By-elections were held in a peaceful manner for filling 54 vacant seats in 53 village/neighbourhood councils in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A total of 345,604 voters including 185,377 men and 160,227 women exercised their right to franchise, for which 260 polling stations were set up. The polling stations included 88 for men, 79 for women and 93 combined. A total of 787 polling booths were established in those polling stations.

The vacant seats mostly included that of general councillor and reserved seats for women, peasant and workers and youth. The districts where by-polls were held included Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kulai Palas, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Dir Lower and Bajaur.

In Peshawar, voting was held for filling vacant seats in five village councils including Ahmadkhel, Achinai Bala-1, Gulshanabad, Khulizai and Barki Janakor.

345,604 voters exercise their right to franchise in the polls

In Charsadda, by-elections were held in 13 village councils.

According to results, of the total 13 seats of union councils, eight candidates have been elected unopposed. By-polls were held for three seats — two general and one for peasant.By-polls could not be held for two seats, one each for minority and youth, as no candidate had submitted nomination papers for the purpose.

Independent candidate Ziad won general seat in Azizabad village council. Wilayat Khan won general seat in Bobak and Awami National Party candidate Gohar Khan won peasant seat in Manaf Kallay.

Noman Ejaz of ANP was elected unopposed on general seat in Islamabad village council, Mohammad Sartaj, an independent candidate, on general seat in Shakar Dhand village council and Hazrat Ali of Qaumi Watan Party on peasant seat in Tarlandi village council.

Independent candidate Samina Begum won reserved seat for women, independent candidate Wadan Shah won general seat in Dussehra village council, Zakirullah of QWP won general seat in Howrah village council, independent candidate Mohammad Yaqoob won general seat in Deobandi village council and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam candidate Fana Bibi won reserved seat for women in Art Kundi village council.

There were a total of 25,408 registered voters in three village councils for which 17 polling stations were established having 57 polling booths.

On the other hand, none of the candidates in Bahul Khel and Sarki Titara village councils had submitted their papers for the by-elections. The by-elections could not be held in those two village councils.

In Dera Ismail Khan, by-elections were held in two neighbourhood and five village councils amid tight security arrangements.

The polling started at 9am in Gilani Town, Dewala, Khhuatti, Girsal and Chaudhwan union councils.

A total of 27 polling stations were established with 18 in Dera Ismail Khan tehsil and nine in Daraban tehsil. More than 3,000 police personnel were deputed for security duty. CCTV cameras were installed for monitoring the bye-elections.

Published in Dawn, October 21th, 2024