Despite serious reservation of PTI-elected MPA Shaukat Yousafzai who suggested only women re-polling in the constituency, the Election Commission of Pakistan ordered re-election on Shangla's PK-23 seat on Friday, citing reason of low turnout of women in the constituency.
In PK-23 Shangla, a total of 13 candidates were in the run for the provincial Assembly seat. The candidates include PTI Shaukat Yousafzai who got 17399 votes, Muhammad Rashad Khan of PML-N got 15533 votes, Mutawakil Khan of ANP got 13942 votes, Afsar-ul-Malk of PPP secured 9636 votes, Muhammad Yar of MMA got 5922, Sarbaz Khan independent candidate secured 1479 and seven others independent also get their due share in the run.
It was an uphill task for PTI Shaukat Yousafzai to secure a seat in Shangla as the area was strong hold of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Ameer Muqam. Beside this Shaukat Yousafzai had mentally ready for Peshawar seat where he won election in 2013 general elections.
But despite of his reservation, senior officials and regulatory body of the election commission in a meeting declared the results of the July 25, 2018 poll in the constituency null and void.
The turnout of women voters was less than 10 percent in the constituency. The Election Act, 2017 requires the ECP to declare an election null and void if the women's turnout in the constituency is less than 10% of its total polled votes.
The ECP had stopped the issuance of the notification declaring PTI candidate Shaukat Ali victorious on Shangla's PK-23 seat, citing a low turnout of women. On August 7, the ECP heard the case regarding low turnout of women in Shangla. However, the winning candidate and the applicant did not show up at the hearing.
The chief election commissioner ordered that the notification be stopped and summoned Shaukat Yousafzai on the next date of hearing. The PTI candidate had won with 1866 votes against PML-N candidate who got 15533 votes.
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