Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday congratulated his party for "overwhelming success" in the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying "people of KP have emphatically rejected the traitors who sold out to foreign masters".

The premier's felicitation came after initial results from 41 councils showed PTI emerging victorious in at least 20 tehsil councils.

On the remaining 21 slots, Jamiat Ulama-i-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) leads in eight councils, followed by independent candidates in four, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) in four, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in two, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in two and Awami National Party (ANP) in one council, according to data obtained from returning officers. However, official notifications are yet to be issued.

Jamaat-i-Islami, which had suffered a setback in the 2018 general elections in one of its strongholds of Lower Dir, appeared to be gaining lost ground as its candidates, according to initial results, emerged victorious in at least two out of seven tehsil councils.

Also read: PM Imran tells CM to unite PTI to win next phase of KP polls

The results on 24 seats are awaited. Polling was held for the slots of chairman and mayor in a total 65 tehsil councils.

In his tweet, the premier termed his party's visible success as an "early warning to all traitors", saying "this is what awaits them in their constituencies."

Planning Minister Asad Umar also tweeted that the PTI's "landslide victory" in the KP elections proved that the nation stood by its leader.

"Now the real decision will not be made through the no-confidence motion. The question is whether Pakistan's future will be decided by its people or a few sold-out politicians and their foreign masters," he said.

According to unofficial results, the PTI secured victory in six out of seven tehsil councils of Swat. One seat was bagged by a JUI-F candidate.

Likewise, PTI is leading in all three councils of Chitral and Malakand, as per the unofficial results.

In the Shangla district, PTI won in three councils out of four while one seat was secured by ANP.

Abdullah Khan, the brother of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, also won a seat in his ancestral Matta tehsil.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, elections for mayor and chairman slots were held in 65 city and tehsil councils as well as for various seats of 1,830 village and neighbourhood councils.

A total of 28,020 candidates were in the run, out of whom 651 contested for the seats of city and tehsil council mayor and chairman.

Besides, 12,980 candidates were vying for the general seats of village and neighbourhood councils, 2,668 for reserved seats for women, 6,451 for peasants, 5,213 for youth and 57 for minority seats.

In the first phase of the polls on December 19, 2021 in 17 districts of the province, JUI-F had bagged 23 slots of mayor/chairman of tehsil councils while PTI trailed behind with 18 seats.