KURRAM: Polling for filling the vacant seat of National Assembly, NA-45, in Kurram tribal district was held in a peaceful atmosphere amid low turnout of voters, especially in remote parts of the constituency.

A total of 16 candidates were in the run including former prime minister and chief of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan and Pakistan Democratic Movement-backed candidate of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl Jamil Khan.

The seat had fallen vacant after the National Assembly speaker had accepted resignation of then MNA Fakhar Zaman Khan of PTI.

According to reports, turnout remained low at polling stations in the far-flung areas of NA-45. Participation of women voters was very thin. However, rush of voters was witnessed at few polling stations in Sadda and Alizai areas.

Elections held for third time on the National Assembly seat

Some of the voters said that the turnout remained low as it was the third elections in the constituency. They said that the seat was won by JUI-F candidate Munir Khan Orakzai in the 2018 general elections. After his death, by-polls were held in February 2021, which were won by Fakhar Zaman Khan, who later tendered resignation on the order of PTI leadership.

Mujtaba Hussain and Inayat Hussain, two voters, said that people were least interested in the polls as parliamentarians failed to initiate any development project in the constituency. Election Commission of Pakistan had declared 119 of the total 143 polling stations most sensitive and remaining 24 sensitive.

The polling stations included 26 each exclusively established for male and female voters, whereas 91 stations were combined. Similarly, a total of 359 polling booths had been established including 190 for male and 169 for female voters.

Police, Levies and paramilitary forces were deployed at the polling stations. No untoward incident was reported from any polling station. A total of 198,618 voters including 111,349 men and 87,269 women exercised their right to vote.

The polling started at 8am and continued until 5pm amid tight security with the voters present inside polling stations at the closing time permitted to cast vote.

District Police Officer Arbab Shafeeullah Khan said that the polling process remained peaceful.

in Peshawar, Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Umer Hameed Khan visited the provincial control room set up for monitoring the polling process. The provincial election commissioner, Shamshad Khan, was also present there. The control room was established under the supervision of a deputy director of ECP, Kashif Abbas Malik.

Umer Hamid Khan stated that no report of any untoward incident was received to the control room. He said that the polling process concluded peacefully.

He said that the provincial election commissioner, district returning officer, returning officer, provincial administration and personnel of police, Pakistan Army and Frontier Corps played important role in holding peaceful polling.

Moreover, Inspector General of Police Moazam Jah Ansari also visited the office of provincial election commissioner and held a meeting with him and the ECP secretary. He briefed them about security arrangements made for the polling process.

Our correspondent adds from Kohat: The candidates expressed satisfaction over the polling process and security arrangements made for the polls.

According to a press release, Commissioner Mehmood Aslam and DIG Shafiullah Gandapur held a meeting with the candidates at the office of Deputy Commissioner Wisal Khan.

They were given a detailed briefing about the polling procedure. They also visited the command and control centre accompanied by the election staff and military officials.

They urged the candidates and political workers to strictly abide by the code of conduct issued by ECP for transparent polling. They asked them to cooperate with the polling staff and the security forces.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2022