ANP’s Nisar Khan ‘wins’ Bajaur by-poll

In a major development, Awami National Party’s (ANP) candidate Nisar Khan emerged victorious in the PK-22 by-election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's (KP) Bajaur district after securing 11,926 votes, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results released on late Thursday night.

As per the unofficial results, independent candidate Najeebullah Khan came in second with 10,622 votes, followed by Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Abid Khan, who bagged 10,593 votes in by-election.

In Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-ruled KP, Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Rahatullah Khan was at fourth place with 7,146 votes.

It is pertinent to mention here that the polling began at 8am and continued till 5pm without any break. The KP assembly seat fell vacant after the occupant, Mubarak Zeb Khan, was elected to the National Assembly.

It is pertinent to mention here that Bajaur witnessed a second by-poll within five months of the general elections.

The total number of registered voters in PK-22 stands at 1,79,000, including 99,000 males and 79,972 females.

The February 8 general elections were postponed in this constituency after the death of a candidate Rehan Zeb Khan in an attack during his election campaign.

In the by-elections on April 21, Rehan Zeb’s brother, Mubarak Zeb, was fielded by the elders and youth from NA-8 and PK-22 who won both slots with a huge support from locals.

In the April by-election, Mubarak defeated some of the stalwarts of Bajaur, including former lawmakers, fielded by different mainstream parties.

He received 74,008 votes from NA-8 while runner-up received 47,282 votes. He also won from PK-22 Bajaur-IV and received 23,386 votes while runner-up got 10477 votes.

Mubarak preferred to remain in NA and vacated the PK-22 seat.