BAJAUR: Jamaat-i-Islami lost its all three seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly after two independent candidates backed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Bajaur district were declared winners following recount of their votes on the basis of Form on Tuesday.

JI had lost another seat in Lower Dir district after recount of votes to a PTI-backed independent on Monday.

The process of recounting votes in both the provincial assembly constituencies, PK-20 and PK-21, was initiated on the requested of PTI-backed independent candidates on Tuesday morning.

The process ended peacefully on Tuesday afternoon, according to separate statements issued from the offices of both the returning officers in Khar.

JI loses all three seats in provincial assembly

Both the returning officers also issued fresh results of the said constituencies declaring Anwarzeb Khan and Engineer Ajmal Khan winners. Anwarzeb Khan contested elections for PK-20 and Engineer Ajmal Khan was in the run for PK-21.

According to the final results issued by the returning officer of PK-20, Imran Khan, Anwarzeb Khan was declared the winner by securing 12,917 votes while Shahabuddin Khan of PML-N was runner up with 6,969 votes.

Interestingly Maulana Waheed Gul of JI, who was earlier declared winner in the constituency, remained on third position by securing 6,909 votes.

Similarly, according to the fresh Form 47 issued by Shah Nawaz Khan, the returning officer for PK-21, PTI-backed candidate Engineer Ajmal emerged as winner against Sardar Khan of JI after obtaining 16,705 votes.

The newly-issued results showed that Sardar Khan of JI, who was earlier declared winner, remained runner up with 8,104 votes.

The development came a day after JI local chapter arranged a grand gathering to celebrate victories of its two candidates Maulana WaheedGul in PK-20 and Sardar Khan in PK-21 on Monday. It has not only disappointed local leaders of the party but also resulted in evaporation of JI in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. Three candidates of JI for provincial assembly had been declared winners in the earlier results of polls but all of them lost their seats after recount of votes.

The district administration had made strict security arrangements outside the offices of returning officers in Civil Colony, Khar, during the recounting of votes of both the constituencies to thwart any unpleasant incident. The workers of both the parties, JI and PTI, were present there in a large number till completion of the process of recount.

Both the JI candidates -- Maulana Waheed Gul and Sardar Khan -- said that they would not accept the fresh results of polls.

In their brief interactions with journalists outside the offices of returning officers, they termed the decision totally flawed and announced to challenge it in Peshawar High Court soon.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2024