The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday released the provisional results of the by-election held for Balochistan Assembly’s PB-47 seat in Kech district. As per the Form-47 shared by the commission, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) candidate Abdul Rasheed secured a comfortable lead against his opponents.

According to the provisional consolidated statement of results form, the BAP hopeful secured 7,088 votes, followed by Balochistan National Party (BNP) candidate Jameel Ahmed Dashti with 5,758 votes.

As many as 12 candidates contested the by-polls for PB-47 (Kech-III). Of the total of 56,472 voters registered in the area, 17,422 persons — 8,698 males and 8,724 females — voted in the by-election.

The seat had fallen vacant after the ECP declared the result of July 25 election null and void after opponents challenged the election of winner Mir Rauf Rind of the BAP, who is a dual national.

An ECP Balochistan official had said that the election material had been distributed to the staff in Kech district.

Returning Officer (RO) Abdul Waheed Baloch said that Frontier Corps and the district police had been deployed at polling stations to tackle any untoward situation.

RO Waheed Baloch said that 60 polling stations had been established in PB-47’s constituency. “To ensure fairness in elections, we remained in contact with all candidates and finalised polling stations following their suggestions,” he said.

BNP President Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, former chief minister and NP President Dr Malik Baloch, BAP’s Zahoor Buledi, and federal minister Zubaida Jalal had led the election campaigns for their respective candidates in Turbat and Kech.