PESHAWAR: The number of votes rejected in the recent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections was significantly high during the electoral exercise for at least 22 tehsil chairman slots as invalid ballots outnumbered victory margin, the provisional results showed.

According to the provisional poll results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan for around 45 tehsil chairman seats, the overall rejected votes in 48 per cent of tehsil council elections surpassed the victory margin. There were only three tehsils, where no vote was rejected.

For at least nine tehsil chairman seats, the rate of invalid ballots was significantly higher than the winning margin, while on the remaining 13, it was above the votes difference between the winner and the runner-up.

The provisional poll results showed that the highest number of 16,097 ballots were excluded from counting in the race of the Mardan city mayor.

ECP figures show such poll results in nine districts

Awami National Party candidate Hiamyatullah Mayar was elected Mardan mayor after polling 56,458 votes and beating his closest rival Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl nominee Amanat Shah Haqqani with a margin of 6,526 votes. However, the number of invalid votes on the seat was more than twice the ratio of victory margin. In Ghari Kapura tehsil of Mardan, 5,975 ballots were excluded from counting, while the difference of votes bagged by the winner and runner-up was 2,845.

Similarly, 6,061 votes were excluded from counting in the election of the chairman of Paroa tehsil in Dera Ismail Khan, where the winning margin was 1,529 votes.

In elections for Paharpur tehsil of same district, the victory margin was just 428 votes against 7,134 invalid votes.

In Lower Mohmand tehsil, 5,764 votes were declared invalid, while difference between the winner and runner-up votes was just 646.

Similarly, in Nowshera district, the margin of Ishaq Khattak, son of federal minister for defence Pervez Khattak against his closet rival from the JUIF was of 8,112 votes. On the other hand, a total of 13,464 votes were rejected.

Similarly in Jehangira tehsil of Nowshera district, a total of 7,132 votes were rejected while the winning margin was 4,603 ballots. Nowshera’s Pabbi tehsil also recorded 8,075 invalid ballots; however, the victory margin stood at paltry 262 votes.

A total of 11,605 votes were declared invalid in the election for the mayor of the Kohat; however, the victory margin stood at 8,641 votes.

However, an ECP official while requesting anonymity told Dawn that the blame for the higher number of invalid votes rested with the voters’ ignorance of the voters. He said that to lesser extent, mismanagement at polling stations also contributed to it.

He said that in the local bodies polls, each voter had to cast six votes and the turnout at most of polling stations was very high, which might have to role to play in higher number of rejected votes.

The official said that most of the rejected votes were on female polling stations.

On the other hand, the tehsils where invalid votes were a little more than vote difference included Rustam tehsil of Mardan, where the victory margin was 4,405 votes against 4,540 rejected ballots.

Similarly, in Wazir tehsil of Bannu, the difference of votes between winner and runner-up was 248, while the rejected votes totalled 450.

In Baizai subdivision of Mohmand district, the victory margin was of 578 votes, while 1,783 others declared invalid.

Similarly in Daggar tehsil of Buner, the difference stood at 1,919 votes, while 2,511 votes were rejected.

In Jandola tehsil of Bannu district, the victory margin was of 107 votes, while 559 votes were declared invalid.

Similarly, in Kakki tehsil of Bannu district, the difference between votes of runner-up and winner was of 971, while 1,133 ballots were excluded from counting for being invalid.

In Lachi tehsil of Kohat, the margin between victory and defeat votes stood at 797 votes, while 2,842 votes were declared invalid.

In Dera Ismail Khan’s Kulachi tehsil, the votes’ differential stood at 2,674 against 2,910 excluded from counting.

In Jamrud tehsil, differential was 2,075 votes, while the number of invalid votes stood at 3,789.

In Gumbat tehsil of Kohat district, the victory margin was 1,553 votes against the rejected votes of 3,797.

In Ghazi tehsil of Haripur district, the difference between winner and runner-up votes was 2,307, while the invalid votes totalled 3,448.

In Lahor tehsil of Swabi district, 7,248 votes were rejected, while 7,216 was the differential between the winner and loser. In Swabi tehsil, the victory differential was of 8,313 votes against the rejected votes of 8,891.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2021