Major upset for PTI in Peshawar as JUI-F wins mayor seat

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback on Monday after the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate won the seat for the post of Peshawar mayor, as the counting for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)'s local government elections remained underway.

As per unofficial results, JUI-F's Zubair Ali won the post of Peshawar mayor after securing 62,388 while PTI's Rizwan Bangash received 50,669 votes.

The unofficial results of the 66 tehsil seats show that the PTI has managed to secure a thin lead over the JUI-F. The PTI is ahead on 15 seats while the JUI-F trails behind with 13 seats. So far, 13 seats have been won by independent candidates.

The vote count is underway for the local bodies election in 17 KPK districts, while results for mayoral and tehsil chairmanship seats have been completed so far.

Awami National Party has secured eight seats, Jamaat-e-Islami one and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Tehreek-e-Islahat Pakistan each have secured two, while Pakistan Peoples Party has secured one seat for the Tehsil chairmanship, according to Aaj News.

17 KP districts: voters go to LG polls today

JUI'F's Hamza Asif Khan has been elected chairman of the Shab e Qadar Tehsil council while PTI's Shahidullah Khan came in second. In tehsil Garhi Kapura, ANP’s Bakhtawar Khan has emerged victorious.

ANP's Himayatullah has been elected as the mayor in Mardan while JUI-F's Sher Zaman has been elected from Kohat.

Meanwhile, PTI has lost mayoral seats in all four districts. The JUI-F has won the coveted posts of mayor in Kohat and Peshawar, as per unofficial results.

The ongoing local government elections were held for the first time in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

LG polls in KPK

On Sunday, local bodies’ elections were held in 17 districts of KPK.

A total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths were set up out of which 4,188 polling stations were declared sensitive and 2,507 most sensitive. CCTV cameras were installed on sensitive and most sensitive polling stations and display of arms or carrying of weapons and electronic devices including mobile phones inside polling stations would not be allowed.

Vote-count begins in violence-marred LG polls in KP

Over 12.668 million registered voters including 7,015,767 male and 5,653,095 female cast their votes of 37,752 candidates contesting for different seats in Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Khyber, Mohmand, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, DI Khan, Tank, Haripur, Buner and Bajaur districts.

About 689 candidates were in run for 689 tehsils, 19,285 for general seats of village and neighbourhood councils, 3,870 for women, 7,428 for farmers and labour, 6,011 for youth, and 293 for minorities.