Polling held in KP peacefully for one NA, nine PA seats

PESHAWAR: Polling was peacefully held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday for one National Assembly and nine provincial assembly constituencies. The polling process started at 8am and continued till 5pm without a break amid tight security. The candidates of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faced the contestants of the opposition parties that had joined hands to give a tough time to the Imran Khan-led party.

A total of 59 candidates, including seven for the one National Assembly seat and 52 for nine provincial assembly seats, were in the run.

NA-35 Bannu was one of the seats that were won by Prime Minister Imran Khan who retained NA-95 Mianwali and vacated the remaining ones.

PK-3 Swat was vacated by Haider Ali of PTI, PK-7 by Dr Amjad Ali of PTI, PK-44 Swabi by Asad Qaiser of PTI, PK-61 and PK-64 by Pervez Khattak of PTI, PK-97 Dera Ismail Khan by Ali Amin Gandapur of PTI and PK-53 Mardan was vacated by Haider Hoti of ANP.

The elections for two provincial assembly seats were postponed when Haroon Bilour of ANP, who was contesting for PK-78 Peshawar, and Ikramullah Gandapur of PTI running for PK-99 Dera Ismail Khan were killed in separate terror attacks.

As many as 2.299 million registered voters exercised their right of franchise in the by-polls. And the number of registered male voters was 1.151 million and 0.878 million were women voters. A total of 158 candidates, including three women, were in the run for the by-elections against one NA and nine PA seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The by-election was held on NA-35 constituency Bannu and nine provincial assembly seats, including two each in Swat, Nowshera and Dera Ismail Khan and one each provincial assembly seat in Swabi, Peshawar and Mardan.

The nine PK seats where the election was held included PK-3 and PK7 Swat, PK-61 and PK-64 Nowshera, PK-97 and PK-99 in Dera Ismail Khan, PK-78 Peshawar, PK-44 Swabi and PK53 Mardan. The polling started at 8pm and continued till 5pm without any break. However, the voters who were present on premises of the polling stations were allowed to cast votes.

APP adds: The NA-35 Bannu seat fell vacant after Imran Khan vacated it seat and retained his National Assembly seat from his native Mianwali district.

The PK-3 Swat seat was been vacated by PTI's Dr Haider Ali, PK-7 Swat by PTI's Dr Amjad Ali, PK-44 Swabi by Asad Qaiser, PK-53 Mardan by Ameer Haider Hoti of ANP, PK-61 and PK-64 Nowshera by former chief minister Pervez Khattak.

The election for PK-78 Peshawar could not be held due to the martyrdom of ANP's Haroon Bilour in a terrorist attack during the election campaign. The PK-97 Dera Ismail Khan was vacated by PTI's Ali Amin Gandapur.