QUETTA: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam’s (JUI-F) candidate, Khalil-Ur-Rehman Dummar, was leading on Sunday in by-election for the Balochistan Assembly seat PB-7, Ziarat, while Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Syed Noor Muhammad Dummar was trailing behind him and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s (PkMAP) Dr Habib-Ur-Rehman was on third position.

According to unofficial results of 56 out of 59 polling stations, the JUI-F candidate was leading with 12,611 votes, while PTI’s Syed Noor Muhammad had bagged 10,116 votes and the PkMAP’s candidate 7,947 votes.

The polling at all 59 polling stations began at 8am and continued till 5pm without a break.

Army, Frontier Corps and police personnel were deployed in and around all polling stations to check any untoward incident and maintain law and order.

A large number of women voters cast their votes at the designated polling stations.

“It was for the first time that women voters showed keen interest in casting their votes,” Hashim Kahn Kakar, a witness, told Dawn.

Some violence was witnessed in Sharifabad, where a group of people pelted a polling station stones. A policeman and two other people were injured in the incident.

However, security forces personnel dispersed the people by resorting to firing into the air.

No untoward incident was reported from any other polling station of the constituency.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2017