KP completes second phase of LG elections

PESHAWAR: The second and last phase of the Local Government (LG) elections was completed after polling in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday and according to initial results, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was leading in most of the areas.

This was for the first time that the LG elections were held in the tribal districts that have been merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There were reports of clashes and disturbance at many polling stations in South and North Waziristan, Kolai-Palas Kohistan, Mansehra and some other districts during the voting.

However, no serious incident was reported from any place. A control room was set up for monitoring the process in all 18 districts. A large number of women turned up at polling stations after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had warned of action against stopping women from voting.

“The polling was, by and large, peaceful. Isolated incidents were reported in some places but were not serious. While considering eight million voters as well as over 28,000 candidates and more than 6,000 polling stations things remained pretty decent,” Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari, told The News.

Extraordinary security arrangements were made in and around the polling stations due to the overall law and order situation and to counter any untoward incident like that in the first phase of the polls.

In the first phase of the elections in December last year, polling had to be postponed in some of the tehsil and neighbourhood councils due to attacks and violence at the polling stations. The ECP had expressed anger at the law and order situation and demanded improved security during the second phase.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl had won the highest number of seats of the mayor and chairmen tehsil councils in the first phase of the LG elections in Peshawar and 16 other districts in December, followed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

For the second phase, the ECP had set up 6,176 polling stations, out of which 2,326 were declared sensitive while 1,646 were categorised as most sensitive. Upgraded security was ensured at sensitive and most sensitive polling stations in all the 18 districts which witnessed balloting in the second phase.

A total of 28,020 candidates were in the run for different categories of seats in the polls being held in Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts.

As many as 651 contenders contested for 65 slots of the mayor and chairmen tehsil councils. There were 12,980 in the run for general councilors, 2,668 for women councilors, 6,451 for peasant councilors, 5,213 for youth councilors and 57 were in run for the seats of minorities’ councilors.

On Thursday, there were reports of clashes at many polling stations in Mansehra. “There were a few minor incidents and scuffles at some polling stations. However, there was no report of firing at any place across the district,” the police chief of Mansehra, Sajjad Khan, told The News.

Member National Assembly from North Waziristan Mohsin Dawar alleged that rigging was observed at the polling station for women in Tori Mir Ali by the supporters of the PTI candidate. He alleged that LG elections in the area were rigged even before the first vote was cast.