20 district council seats each won by PML-N, PTI in Abbottabad

ABBOTTABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) seized 20 seats each of district councils while Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) won only one seat and the remaining 10 went to independent candidates.
Unofficial and unconfirmed results of 51 union councils of Abbottabad district revealed that both mainstream political parties are focusing on district as well as tehsil nazims.
The election results of a few seats were pending for different reasons as in few cases, complete results of respective polling stations were not compiled and in Sarbanha Union Council, first information report was registered against two rival groups who had set on fire the ballot papers and had stolen ballet boxes.
Among the elected candidates, true to the expectations, Shamoon Yar, son of Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, Ali Khan Jadoon, son of former federal minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon, found bertha for the district council and most possibly both will be the contender for the top slot in Abbottabad district.
While among other probable candidates, Waqar Nabi of PTI and independent candidate Sardar Sher Bahadar, who was president of PTI Abbottabad district and was denied ticket for the election and contested election from Kehal union council as independent against brother-in- law of provincial minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani won the seat.
The PML-N has once again showed its presence by performing well in the local government elections. The political observers believe the credit goes to former PML-N MPA Inayatullah Khan Jadoon who re-organised the party and awarded party tickets to workers.
PML-N used to have grip on the district in past but failed to maintain the supremacy in the 2013 elections when it won just only one provincial assembly seat of Abbottabad out of five and also lost the National Assembly seat.
On the other side, PTI lost some important seats in Abbottabad due to intra-party clashes. Its district president was denied the party ticket but despite that he contested and won. In some of important seats of tehsil, wrong decisions led the party to defeat.
Independent candidates will form the alliance and will play a key role to decide the future of top slot of Abbottabad nazim. Sardar Sher Bahadar will be in the driving seat if PTI did not take any disciplinary action against him as PTI has warned all PTI candidates who were contesting in independent capacity of disciplinary action.
Our correspondent in Haripur adds: As per unofficial results of the local body election, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf notched most of the seats at district level whereas independent candidates made the biggest gains at tehsil level.
From the two tehsils of Haripur district, Ghazi and Haripur which is further subdivided into 45 union councils, there were 171 candidates for district council where as 234 aspirants for tehsil. According to unofficial results collected from the returning officers of 43 union councils of Haripur at district level PTI secured 25 seats, independent candidates bagged 14 seats whereas PML-N won only 4 seats.
At 30 union councils, independent candidates triumphed by grabbing 18 seats. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf 10 seats, PML-N secured 1 and PPP also managed to get only one seat. Kamal Ghaznavi district president of PTI and a candidate for tehsil council from Union Council Haripur City, Shumali, had also reportedly resigned from his post after losing election.
Results of remaining union councils were still awaited. Our correspondent in Mansehra adds: Independents candidates won 23 seats while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) 17 and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured 12 seats of district council, according to unofficial results.
The PML-N leaders defended the parties performance in the election saying there was no threat to it. “The party will continue to win elections from Mansehra in future as well,” said a PML-N leader.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters, former provincial president of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Azam Khan Swati s shifted his government’s failure to hold free and fair elections on the Election Commission.“I am convinced that we couldn’t manage these elections well but it was the prime responsibility of EC to make these elections ambiguity-free,” he said.
The Senator said elections were held in more than 43000 constituencies/ wards in the provinces and KP government could not make these elections as hassle-free. “If rigging has taken place anywhere it would be be probed but those who are making such claims should also come forward with evidences,” said Swati.
He said that his party had never remained involved in any sort of rigging. “I would suggest that an inquiry should be carried out to first establish fact either rigging has taken palace or it is only based on conspiracy theory,” he said.