PESHAWAR: By-elections for 53 seats of neighborhood and village councils were conducted in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday amid tight security.
Polling continued peacefully from 9 am to 5 pm without any break.
By-elections were held in 17 districts of the province, including Peshawar.
A special security plan was chalked out for the peaceful conduct of polling across the province.
According to the security plan, 800 police officers and personnel of Peshawar Police were deployed at 21 polling stations of the provincial capital. Senior police officers visited the polling stations to inspect the security arrangements.
Elections were held in 53 villages, neighborhood councils on seats reserved for general councilors, women, labourers, farmers and youth.
The districts where by-polls were held included Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Lower Dir and Bajaur.
As many as 260 polling stations were established for the by-elections.
The vacant seats for which polls were held included 39 general, six women, one for farmer and seven for youth councillors. There were a total of 3,45,604 voters in these constituencies.
In Peshawar, polling was held in five village and neighborhood councils of Pishtakhara, Badaber and Hasankhel. A total of 21 polling stations had been established in the three tehsils.
According to unofficial results, independent candidate Irfan Ullah was leading for the seat of general councillor in VC 23 Khulizai, Badaber, with 792 votes followed by Hazrat Gul with 742 votes.
In VC 22 Ahmad Khel, Usman was leading with 185 votes for the seat of youth councillor.
In Achini Bala VC 32, independent candidate Momina Bibi was leading with 387 votes, followed by Khyal Waro with 214 votes.
CHARSADDA: By-elections were also held in 13 village councils of Charsadda.
Out of these, candidates for eight village councils had already been elected unopposed.
According to Election Commission, the candidates elected unopposed included: Nauman Ijaz of the Awami National Party for the general seat in Village Council Islamabad, independent candidate Muhammad Sartaj for the general seat in Village Council Shakar Dhand, Hazrat Ali of the Qaumi Watan Party for the Kissan councillor seat in Village Council Turlandi, independent candidate Samina Begum for the women›s seat in Village Council Meera Parang, independent candidate Wadan Shah for the general seat in Village Council Doshera, Zakirullah of the Qaumi Watan Party for the general seat in Village Council Hawara, independent candidate Muhammad Yaqoob for the general seat in Village Council Deobandi, and JUI›s Fana Bibi for the women›s seat in Village Council Art Kundi.
Meanwhile, independent candidate Ziyad Khan won the general councillor seat in Village Council Abazai, Wilayat Khan won the general councillor seat in Azizabad Bobak, and Gohar Khan of the ANP won the peasant councillor seat in Village Council Munaf Killay.
There were a total of 25,408 registered voters in three village councils, for which the ECP set up 17 polling stations with 57 polling booths.
However, in the village councils of Behloolkhel and Sarki Titarah, no candidates submitted nomination papers, so elections could not be held in these two councils.
SWAT: the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate for Chaprial-II Village Council, Muhammad Rafique, won the general council seat by bagging 992 votes. Mian Aqal Wali was the runner-up with 877 votes.
In the Baidara VC, Majeed Khan, an independent, was the winner of the seat by securing 1,406 votes. The PTI candidate, Ibrar, was the runner-up with 804 votes who was followed by Shaukat Ali, an independent who bagged 410 votes.
In the Gogdara VC, Muhammad Riaz of the Awami National Party, emerged victorious by bagging 490 votes. The runner-up was Fayyaz Khan, an independent, who secured 290 votes.
