PESHAWAR: The by-elections for 35 vacant seats of the members of district, tehsil/town, village and neighbourhood councils were held in seven districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.

In Swabi, Niaz Mohammd won the by-elections of Maneri village council by getting 313 votes while his rival Rukhsar got only 61 votes.

In Tank, independent candidate Fateh Khan won the union council-V Tank by-polls by getting 2,565 votes while JUI-F candidate Zaffarullah Kundi remained the runner up. He got 1,330 votes.

Mamrez Khan of PML-N snatched the district council seat by getting 3,440 against PTI candidate Ashraf Khan, who got 2,965 votes. The polling was held at union council of Majoian at 13 polling stations in peaceful atmosphere amid tight security.

In Lower Dir, the Jamaat-i-Islami-backed candidates won three of four seats while ANP remained successful on one seat.

The by-elections for four seats of youth councillors in village councils Naway Kallay Timergara, Kamar Taal Khall, Andhery Manogay and Shagai Maidan were held in peaceful environment.

The JI candidates won their seats in Naway Kaly, Kamar Taal and Shagai Maidan while ANP bagged the youth councillor seat in Manogay Balambat.

A total of 38 polling stations were arranged in the seven districts including Peshawar, Swabi, Karak Tank, Abbottabad, Buner and Lower Dir. Total of 38 presiding officers, 99 assistant presiding officers and 99 polling officers were deployed by Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct the elections.

A total of 222 candidates contested the elections for 35 vacant seats in district, tehsil/town and village/neighbourhood councils.

The polling started at around 8am at the morning and ended at 5pm without any break. Police contingents were deployed inside and around the polling stations to avoid any untoward incident.

Published in Dawn September 21st, 2016