ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday decided to delay the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) till March.

According to sources, the ECP made this decision in view of harsh weather in most of the districts where the polls are going to be held. The second phase of local body polls in the remaining 18 districts of the province, including Hazara and Malakand, will now be held in March.

Earlier, reports said the second phase of LG polls will be held on January 16 and the departments concerned were issued directives to make arrangements in this regard.

The first phase of LG polls was held in the KP province on Dec 19. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as its arch-rival JUI-F managed to grab the highest number of seats in the city, tehsil councils, village and neighbourhood councils.

JUI-F’s Zubair Ali also won the hotly-contested poll for the top slot of Peshawar mayor. He bagged 62,388 votes followed by Rizwan Bangash of PTI with 50,659 votes.