MARDAN: Awami National Party’s Himayatullah Mayar advocate has retained the Mardan tehsil chairman slot after the vote recount further increased his tally of votes.

Announcing the decision in a presser here on Saturday, returning officer Mujeebur Rehman said he had ordered the vote recount after JUI-F candidate Maulana Amanat Shah Haqani requested for it. He said all 11 candidates were present during the vote recount.

Mr Rehman said votes of seven candidates increased after the vote recount, adding Himayatullah Mayar’s votes jumped from 56,458 to 58,464, Amanat Shah’s from 49,938 to 51,866, Lakhkar Khan of PTI from 30,383 to 33,421.

Similarly, votes of Jamaat-i-Islami candidate Mushtaq Semaab increased from 17,196 to 17,906, PPP’s Asad Kashmiri’s from 12,230 to 12,513, independent Kaleem Toru’s from 13,254 to 13,326 and independent candidate Zahir Shah’s from 8,384 to 9,248.

Also in the day, speech and painting competitions were held at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan to mark the 145th birth anniversary of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Vice Chancellor Prof Zahoorul Haq, who was the chief guest on occasion, said the nation’s father had time and again stressed the need for the people to own the country.

Meanwhile, Jamaat-i-Islami leader Malik Waqar along with scores of party workers resigned from the JI citing its poor performance in the recent local body elections.

Mr Waqar told reporters here the other day that a particular group had hijacked the party in the district, thus affecting its performance.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021