ABBOTTABAD: PTI-backed candidates won two Abbottabad district council seats while the third went to an independent, and a tehsil council seat was also clinched by an independent in the local government by-elections held here on Sunday.

Three district council seats had fallen vacant after the de-seating of district nazim Sardar Sher Bahadar, naib nazim Shaukat Tanoli and council member Nazeer Abbasi, and one Bakot tehsil council seat under the defection clause of the local bodies act.

In Kehal union council, Rana Safdar and in Salhad UC Malik Suleman of PTI won the by-poll, while independent Nazeer Abbasi retained his slot in Bakot union council. In Salhad UC, PTI nominee Malik Suleman got 2,196 votes against his rival Shafeeq Tanoli of PML-N who grabbed 2,076 votes.

In Kehal union council, Rana Safdar of PTI got 1,513 votes while his close rival Mohammad Sajid Awan of PML-N got 1,260 votes.

In Bakot UC, Nazeer Abbasi, who was earlier a worker of PTI, retained his seat with the support of PML-N though he contested as an independent candidate and got 5,017 votes against his rival Shaukat Abbasi of PTI who bagged 3,410 votes. The by-election for one Bakot tehsil council seat was won by independent candidate Basit Abbasi, grabbing 4,760 votes against his rival Chaudhry Riaz’s 2,883 votes.

A heavy contingent of police was deployed at all the polling stations to ensure peaceful polling.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2018