PESHAWAR: Re-polling in the local government elections ended peacefully under heavy security on Thursday.

Earlier, re-polling in the local government elections was under way in over 350 polling stations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) today (Thursday).

Voting began in 14 districts of the province at 7am. To facilitate the voters, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) extended the polling duration till 6pm.

The picture shows security personnel as voting continues. —Photo by author

Extra security measures were taken to ensure smooth elections. Police and army personnel have also been deployed at each polling station to avoid mismanagement. Meanwhile, the media has been barred from coverage inside polling stations.

Extra security measures were taken to ensure smooth elections. —DawnNews screengrab

Woman arrested in Peshawar for attempting to cast fake votes

Police arrested a woman in Takhtabad polling station in Peshawar's Dawoodzai area for attempting to cast fake votes. According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mian Saeed, police arrested the woman for having 45 fake voting ballots. The woman was arrested before she cast the fake votes and was shifted to Dawoodzai police station.

Read: Re-polling in KP tomorrow

Officials in the ECP had told Dawn that re-polling would be held in 29 polling stations in Peshawar, 88 in Nowshera, 45 Charsadda, 42 Mardan, 17 Swabi, five Kohat, four Hangu, 70 Karak, 30 Bannu, eight Lakki Marwat, eight Dera Ismail Khan, seven Abbottabad, six Mansehra and one in Bunner district.

Previously, local government elections were held across the province on May 30 but due to mismanagement, the polling was suspended and declared null and void by the election commission in some districts. More than a dozen people were killed due to clashes and poll-related violence.

Take a look: Imran blames ECP for KP poll problems

Before this, the last local government elections took place in February 2005. The last provincial government had dissolved local councils on February 20, 2010 after the completion of their tenure. Afterwards, administrators replaced nazims of those bodies.