LG surveys in 17 KP districts in the midst of violence

LG surveys in 17 KP districts in the midst of violence

PESHAWAR: Local elections were held in 17 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday amid incidents of violence and rigged allegations.

Over 79,000 police officers and employees of other security forces were on duty for the elections, which were also held for the first time in former tribal areas.

Two workers from the Awami National Party were killed and four injured in an explosion in the Kamarsar area of ​​the Bajaur tribal district.

Two people died and three were injured when they were shot at a polling station in Takht-e-Nusrati, Karak district, during the election.

The elections in Bakakhel tehsil in the Bannu district were postponed from Saturday to Sunday during the night due to the legal and regulatory situation of some polling stations.

An official with the Pakistani Electoral Commission said the elections were postponed after the local administration and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary reported poor law and order.

The election of the Mayor of Dera Ismail Khan City Council was postponed on Saturday following the assassination of Awami National Party candidate Umar Khitab Sherani. Two police officers and a civilian were injured when a police van was attacked in Bajaur tribal district. The attack was reported from Mulla Said village near Salarzai Police Station. The police went to a Mulla Said village to enforce discipline at a riot polling station.

Two police officers - Shaukat and Niaz - and a civilian, Samiullah from Dando Village, were injured in the attack. They were transferred to the Khar District Headquarters Hospital and put into a stable there. One person was injured in Azad Kashmir village when a shooting broke out at a polling station during local elections, an ancient feud and they later brought the situation under control. Clashes have also been reported from the village of Tordher and some other areas. The police coped with the situation.

Riots also erupted in the town of Darra Adam Khel, with a mob reportedly damaging voting materials and furniture at a polling station and burning the ballot papers. The first incident occurred in the women's polling station of the Government Girls Primary School Maneri Jahan in the Misri Banda Union Council in Jehangira Tehsil, where an independent candidate for the seat of the General Council, Muzaffar Khan, along with his supporters, broke six ballot boxes and in the premises burned the ballot papers. The mob also took away some ballot papers.

The second polling station of the Pahari Katikhel state girls' primary school was attacked by dozen men who engaged in hooliganism. A scuffle broke out at the state secondary school, in which Federal Defense Minister Pervez Khattak was also present. The candidates for the seats in the General Council were recruited under control after the army soldiers and the Frontier Corps were called up. The elections in the neighborhood council 22 Gulbahar in Peshawar were also postponed after clashes between supporters of various candidates who smashed the ballot boxes.

A presiding officer and her spouse were arrested late Saturday night while electoral staff was removed and new officers were seconded after reports of misconduct at polling stations in Gor Khatri village. Large numbers of supporters of various candidates staged protests after the videos of suspected wrongdoing by electoral staff went viral. A three-person committee, headed by Special Secretary Zafar Iqbal, was set up to investigate the incident and submit a report within seven days. Many candidates and their supporters protested in different parts of the province against the alleged manipulation and slowdown of voting procedures at various polling stations.

A total of 2,507 polling stations were classified as the most sensitive, 4,188 as sensitive and 528 in the Sunday votes as normal were suspended for some time after clashes between supporters of different parties but resumed shortly afterward when the police and other officials intervened. The EKP officials visited various polling stations in Peshawar, Mardan and other counties to inspect the electoral process.

Chief Secretary Shahzad Bangash, Police Inspector General Moazzam Jah Ansari, City Police Chief Abbas Ahsan, Secretary Home Khushal Khan and other senior police and administrative officials visited various areas to review security for the elections. The IGP told the media that foolproof safeguards had been put in place in coordination with other departments for the election. In Peshawar, 860 polling stations were classified as sensitive, 165 as the most sensitive and 224 were classified in the normal category.

Around 11,000 police officers and personnel from other forces were on duty for security during the elections in Peshawar. The city police had introduced an app in order to be able to react quickly in the event of law and order during the elections.

According to the ECP, 37,752 candidates applied for various categories in the first phase of the elections. Of these, 689 were candidates for the leadership of the city and town councils and 19,285 candidates for the position of general councilor, chairman of village and neighborhood councils.

In addition, 3,905 candidates ran for the seats for the female councilors, 7,513 for the peasant councils, 6081 for the youth councils and 282 for the minority councils. Federal Minister Shibli Faraz escaped unharmed while his driver was injured with stones in an attack by locals in Darra Adam Khel on his vehicle when he was coming from Kohat to Peshawar.

An official said Shibli Faraz came to Peshawar from Kohat after casting his vote when locals gathered in a protest threw stones at his vehicle. The minister was uninjured, but his driver sustained injuries after being hit by a stone.

According to some reports, the attackers fired shots at the car. However, the police rejected such reports.