QUTTEA: By-elections for 98 seats of local bodies in 12 districts of Balochistan were held in a peaceful atmosphere on Sunday.

However, voting could not take place for another 331 seats in several districts, including Awaran and Kalat, as no one had filed nomination papers there.

Reports said PML-N won the contest for Jaffarabad Union Council where its candidate Nazar Mohammad Bhangar secured 252 votes against 168 polled by his opponent. Polling remained suspended for about two hours after the PML-N candidate and his supporters complained of bogus voting at a booth for women.

The PML-N had grabbed majority of seats in the local government elections in Jaffarabad district on Dec 7 last year.

The Domki group, headed by provincial Minister for Labour and Manpower Sardar Sarfaraz Domki, won the polls for ward-6 and 22 seats of Sibi municipal committee. The Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party was leading in Harnai district by securing 14 seats. The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl bagged two seats while results from other constituencies are awaited.

According to unofficial results from different areas, Jaffar Khan and Gulab Din won the contest in Shirani district; Abdul Majid and Abdul Karim in Mastung district; Wahid Ahmed in Qila Saifullah; Ayub, Nasir Ali and Haider in Gwadar; Ali Mohammad in Pishin and Naimatullah in Quetta.

Earlier, Provincial Election Commission had said that by-polls would be held for about 549 seats in Harnai, Awaran, Gwadar, Dera Bugti and other districts. Later, it announced that by-elections were held for 98 seats only – 74 of those in Harnai district alone. The voting could not be held in other districts as no candidates had filed nomination papers.

“The polling process remained smooth and peaceful,” Provincial Election Commissioner Syed Sultan Bayazid said, adding that polling continued from 8am to 5pm without interval.

He said official results would be announced on Tuesday, adding that schedule for elections on seats reserved for women, farmers, labourers and minorities would be released later.

Home Secretary Asad Gilani said that Frontier Corps personnel were deployed in Harnai and other sensitive areas to assist police and Levies Force in maintaining law and order. Two hundred soldiers of the army remained alert to meet any eventuality.