BATKHELA, Dec 15: Jamaat-i-Islami was poised to retain the Malakand NA-35 seat where its candidate was far ahead of its closest rivals the candidates of the ruling PML and the People's Party Parliamentarians.

The by-election for the seat was held on Wednesday. Polling got off to a slow start in the morning but the number of voters at more than 200 polling stations increased after mid-day. According to unofficial results from 225 polling stations, MMA's Bakhtiar Maani was leading by about 33,395 votes.

Salim Saifullah Khan of the PML was trailing behind with 19,946 votes and PPP's Humayoun Khan with 17,248. Unconfirmed reports put Mr Maani's lead over Mr Saifullah at more than 13,000.

The seat fell vacant with the death of JI's MNA Inayatur Rehman who had won the elections in 2002 by polling more than 37,000 votes against PPP's Lal Mohammad Khan who had bagged around 19,000 votes.

Mr Maani's lead has stunned the political pundits who had predicted a clean sweep for the PPP candidate, former district nazim. PML's candidate was also believed to have improved his chances towards the end of the election campaign.

The Election Commission had originally set up 225 polling stations for 206,997 voters, but voting on some stations could not take place because of a reported agreement between the PML and the PPP not to bring out their women voters to the stations in keeping with the local tradition.

The MMA took full advantage of this agreement and brought out its women supporters in droves. Jubilant Jamaat-i-Islami activists, led by their leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad, and a bevy of NWFP ministers took to the streets in Batkhela to celebrate their victory.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, who had camped in Malakand to shore up support for his party's candidate, said the provincial government would hold those people accountable who had made false promises to win voters' support.

He said Section 144 would be imposed in Malakand to stop the movement of electricity poles and gas pipes which had been brought in by the federal government-backed candidate in a bid to win over local votes.

Mr Saifullah, who fared well in the by-election despite being an outsider to the constituency, however, accused the provincial government and election staff of siding with the Jamaat-i-Islami candidate. He said the polling time in certain areas had been extended to the benefit of the Jamaat-i-Islami candidate.