DERA ISMAIL KHAN/BAJAUR/KOHAT: The PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council won a National Assembly seat in Kohat district and a provincial assembly’s in Dera Ismail Khan district during Sunday’s by-elections, according to provisional poll results.

At the same time, an independent candidate was declared the winner in two national and provincial assembly constituencies in Bajaur tribal district.

PTI-backed independent candidate and Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s brother Faisal Amin Gandapur won the by-election in the National Assembly constituency of NA-44 in Dera Ismail Khan, according to Form 47 (poll results) released by the returning officer.

The seat fell vacant after Ali Amin vacated it to retain the provincial assembly seat of PK-113 to become the CM.

Independent claims victory in two Bajaur constituencies

Results of Sunday’s by-election showed that Faisal Gandapur obtained 66,332 votes against 21,972 votes polled by the runner-up, Abdur Rasheed Khan Kundi of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians.

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan nominee Akhtar Saeed secured 2,289 votes and PML-N’s Zameer Hussain 1,353 votes only.

The voter turnout was as low as 24.4 per cent.

The NA-44 constituency comprises 57 village and 129 neighborhood councils in Paharpur and Dera Ismail Khan tehsils, cantonment area, Shorkot, Chehkan, Kotla Syedaan and other localities. It has 396,661 registered voters, including 211,032 men and 185,629 women.

A total of 358 polling stations were established for by-election. They include 126 for men and 115 for women, while 117 were combined. The polling booths totalled 1,172, including 635 for men and 537 for women.

In the Bajaur by-polls, the National Assembly seat of NA-8 and the provincial assembly seat of PK-22 went to independent contestant Mubarak Zeb Khan.

The provisional poll results showed that Mubarak obtained 74,008 votes in NA-8, with Gul Zafar Khan of the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council being the runner-up with 47,282 votes.

Another independent candidate and former governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan got 20,020 votes.

The other candidates, including PML-N provincial vice-president and former lawmaker Shahabuddin Khan, former MNA Sayed Akhunzada Chattan of the PPP, former MNA Sahibzada Haroon Rashid of the Jamaat-i-Islami and Maulana Khan Zab of the ANP, didn’t fare well in the electoral contest.

Mubarak, 24, is the younger brother of senior PTI leader Rehan Zeb Khan, who was killed in the Jan 31 rally for the Feb 8 general elections.

The PK-22 provisional assembly seat also went to him. He polled 23,386 votes, and the runner-up, Abid Khan of the Jamaat-i-Islami, got 10,477 votes. Former PTI lawmaker Gul Dad Khan, who was named by the Sunni Ittehad Council, got 7,073 votes only.

Sources in the PTI and observers claimed that besides youth and other residents, half of PTI activists supported Mubarak over reservations about the party’s nominations.

In Kohat, the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council’s candidate, Daud Afridi, won by-election in the provincial assembly’s constituency of PK-91.

He received 23,496 votes, while the independent candidate and the two-time law minister in the PTI government, Imtiaz Qureshi, polled 16,518 votes.

Another independent contestant, Abdul Saboor Shah Mehmood, stood third with 8,090 votes.

The other seven candidates didn’t carry out their election campaigns, seeing the prospects of Daud Afridi winning the electoral contest, according to the observers.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2024