SWABI: After losing Sunday’s by-election to PTI nominee Aqibullah Khan by a margin of 1,623 votes, ANP candidate for PK-44, Swabi, Ghulam Hassan has formally sought vote recount.

Of the 85,562 votes polled, the PTI and ANP candidates had secured 18,723 and 17,093 votes, respectively.

Mr Hassan on Monday submitted an application to the district returning officer seeking vote recount in the constituency. The DRO will decide about the request in the next few days.

A low voter turnout was reported in Sunday’s by-election.

Only 36,300 voters participated in the electoral exercise election taking their turnout to 18.18 percent unlike the July 25 general election when 85,562 people had exercised their right to vote in the constituency.

PTI won Swabi by-election by slim margin

Meanwhile, the PTI leaders celebrated the party’s victory in by-election saying Aqibullah Khan had defeated all major religious and political parties, who were united under the Swabi Democratic Alliance. They said the youths played a key role in the election victory.

MPA-elect Aqibullah and PTI district president Anwar Haqdad Khan said the ANP, PPP, PML-N, JUI-F, Qaumi Watan Party and Jamaat-i-Islami had supported the ANP nominee but even then, the people voted for the PTI declaring Swabi district a stronghold of the ruling party.

However, some PTI leaders acknowledged their failure to bring people to polling stations in large numbers.

They said the people didn’t show enthusiasm in by-election like the July 25 general election.

The ANP leaders claimed that the by-poll results had showed the PTI’s declining popularity in the constituency.

They said Asad Qaisar of the PTI had received 31,912 votes in the July 25 election but Mr Aqibullah polled only 18,676 votes in the by-election.

Losing candidate Ghulam Hassan said the constituency had 201,369 registered voters, including 112,886 men and 88,483 women, but only 36,300 of them exercised their right to vote in the by-election showing that the people had lost interest in the electoral process.

Meanwhile, members of a jirga from Jehangira area on Monday demanded strict police action against those involved in firing during talks over a disputed land. They said the firing claimed a life and injured three people.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2018