DERA GHAZI KHAN: A reported clerical mistake by the presiding officer for NA-190 created a confusion among the constituents and candidates.

An earlier notification declared Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) candidate Zulfiqar Khosa winner and independent candidate Amjad Farooq Khosa runner-up.

Soon after the issue of the notification, Zulfiqar Khosa started receiving congratulations from his supporters. Hours after, the presiding officer issued another official result in favour of Amjad Khosa with an additional note that a clerical mistake created a confusion and now Amjad Khosa has been declared successful.

According to the final result, Amjad Khosa bagged 72,183 votes while Zulfiqar Khosa got 71,954 votes.

Zulfiqar Khosa, however, rejected the second notification, saying it was issued without my presence at the time of recount. He said he would challenge the notification. He told a press conference his mandate had been stolen in the dead of night though a notification. He said that according to the form 45, he was winning the poll with a lead of 3,000 votes.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2018