MARDAN, Feb 23: Imtiaz Khan Shagai of the Pakistan People’s Party, according to unofficial result, won the by-election for the PF-30 constituency on Monday by obtaining 12,890 votes.

Tajul Ameen Jabal of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), a former MPA, was the runner-up with 8,319 votes. Mr Shagai was also supported by the Awami National Party.

A total of 113,869 voters are registered in the constituency, including 42,624 women.

The polling was held in a peaceful atmosphere as strict security measures had been put in place by police to avert any untoward incident. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of MPA Iftikhar Khan Shagai, a brother of Imtiaz Shagai, who was killed in a road accident while going to attend the death anniversary of his slain party leader Benazir Bhutto.

The turnout was high compared to last year’s general election.

The Election Commission had set up 93 polling stations with 249 polling booths. These included 10 polling stations for men, eight for women and 75 joint polling stations. Nine candidates were in the run for the seat. Besides Imtiaz Shagai and Tajul Ameen, the other candidates were: former MNA of Jamaat-i-Islami Maulana Attaur Rehman, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad of the JUI-S and independent candidates Sarbiland Khan, Altaf Gul, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Nawab and Sultan Mohmand.—Correspondent