KP LB polls: Shaukat Yousafzai reveals reason behind PTI defeat

Peshawar: While acknowledging the defeat of ruling party PTI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body (LB) polls, provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai has attributed the defeat to inflation.

According to the details, the PTI minister said that inflation is the major cause of defeat of the PTI in the KP local government elections. 

He also claimed that inflation will decline in the next two to three months.

On the other hand, provincial minister Atif Khan also held inflation responsible for the defeat of PTI candidates.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) is leading and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) second in the local government (LG) polls held in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Sunday, unofficial results revealed. 

According to unconfirmed unofficial results of local body elections in 64 tehsils of 17 districts of KP, unofficial results show PTI losing dominance in local government. JUI-F is leading in 19 seats, while PTI is leading in 15 seats, independent candidates are 12, ANP 8, Jamaat-e-Islami 3 and PML-N is ahead in 2 seats.

The reports said that the JUI-F is leading in the Peshawar City Council.

The Awami National Party (ANP) candidate in Mardan and the JUI-F candidate in Kohat are leading in the mayoral seat.

According to the unofficial results of the 28 Village Councils received so far, 11 independent candidates have been elected to the Village Council seats. JUI and ANP have won 6, 6, PTI 3, Jamaat-e-Islami and PML-N one each.

According to the preliminary and unofficial results of the 16 neighborhood councils received so far, 9 independent candidates have won the neighborhood council seat.

According to details, three candidate form JUI-F and one candidate each from ANP, PPP, PTI and PML-N has been elected to the neighborhood council seat.

As per unofficial results, the JUI-F managed to secure seven tehsil chairman slots while managed to secure six. Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) both managed to secure two slots, while two independent candidates also secured two slots. Among JUI-F’s seven tehsils, two were from Peshawar.

JUI-F managed to clinch Bannu’s Baka Khel Wazir where Malik Mastoo Khan emerged victorious. Other JUI-F candidates who managed to win were Hamza Asif Khan, who emerged victorious in Charsadda’s Shabqadar tehsil, Mufti Imran Mohammad in Hangu’s Thall tehsil, Maulana Mubarak Ahmad in Mardan’s Rustam tehsil, Hafiz Taj Wali in Mohmand’s Upper Mohmand tehsil, Kaleem Ullah in Peshawar’s Shah Alam tehsil and Fareed Ullah in Peshawar’s Mahtra tehsil.

PTI won in Nowshera’s tehsil Nowshera City where Federal Defence Minister Pervez Khattak’s son Ishaq Khattak won. PTI’s Kamran Razzak won in Jehangira, Salaar Jahan won in Buner’s Gagra tehsil, Sher Alam in Gadezai tehsil and Razi Khan won in Daggar tehsil. JI won in DI Khan’s tehsil Daraban, where Ehsan Ullah Miankhel clinched victory. Two independent candidates -- Peer Kamal Shah in Bannu’s Miryan tehsil and Amir Ghani in Hangu -- also managed to emerge victorious.

ANP’s Ghulam Haqqani won in Swabi’s Razar tehsil by defeating Iqbal Buland, the cousin of K-P Education Minister Shahram Tarakai. Haqqani recieved 22,743 votes while Iqbal got 13,023 votes. In Lahore tehsil, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Adil Khan got 3,628 votes and PTI’s Sohail Khan got 3,500 votes, as per the result of 29 polling stations. In Topi tehsil, JUI-F’s Muhammad Rahim got 8,364 votes while PTI’s Sohail Yousafzai got 3,705 votes, as per the result of 37 polling stations. In Swabi tehsil, PTI’s Attaullah Khan got 9,100 votes while PML-N’s Rab Nawaz Khan got 5,687 votes, as per the result of 35 polling stations. A lot of polling stations in Swabi tehsil could not furnish their results on time because the polling agents were not given Form 17.

The 17 districts where LB elections are held include Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Khyber, Mohmand, Mardan, Swabi, Kohat, Karak, Hangu, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Haripur, Buner and Bajaur.

Over 12.668 million registered voters, including 7,015,757 male and 5,653,095 female voters, are deciding the fate of 37,752 candidates contesting for different seats.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set up more than 9,223 polling stations and nearly 28,892 polling booths have been set up for local government elections, while 4,188 polling stations have been declared sensitive and 2,507 most sensitive. 

Over 12.668 million registered voters, including 7,015,757 male and 5,653,095 female voters, would decide the fate of 37,752 candidates contesting for different seats.

Stringent security arrangements have been made in this regard. 77,000 policemen and law-enforcement personnel have been deployed outside polling stations and booths for the security of voters.

CCTV cameras have been installed and booth of these sensitive locations and it is prohibited to carry weapons or electronic devices in all polling stations.

As many as 19,285 for general seats of village, and neighborhood councils, 3,870 for women, 7,428 for farmers and labor, 6,011 for youth and 293 for minorities.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has established a control room in ECP’s Peshawar office to receive polling day complaints.