PTI leading rivals in second phase of KP’s LB polls

Fawad says JUI-F far behind PTI; PML-N wiped out in 18 districts

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Thursday said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had outperformed all the opposition parties in the second phase of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s local bodies election based on unofficial results.

The minister, in a tweet, said the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl was far behind the PTI in the contest while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz was completely wiped out. Fawad thanked the Almighty for the lead taken by the PTI in the LG election, which he said, predicted the future. The counting of votes was started after the peaceful conclusion of the second phase of local government elections in 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday evening as no untoward incident was reported from any part of these areas.

The polling process, which started at 8 am, continued without break till 5 pm in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts. Since morning, great enthusiasm was witnessed among voters — especially youth — who came in large numbers to polling stations to elect their representatives for tehsil, village and neighbourhood councils. The turnout of voters was good in the morning and after Zuhar prayer, the voters thronged polling stations and cast their votes in large numbers as a high turnout was expected. As many as 561 candidates were in the run for 65 tehsil seats, 12,980 for general seats, 2,668 for women seats, 6451 for farmers/labourers seats, 5213 for youth seats and 57 minorities seats.