ECP retains mayoral election result in Bannu, nullifies recounting orders

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has retained the mayoral election results in Bannu tehsil of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and nullified the vote recounting orders issued by the returning officer (RO), ARY News reported on Monday.

The election commission retained the victory of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Irfan Durrani in the mayoral election of Bannu tehsil. The candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Iqbal Jadoon had challenged Durrani’s victory and requested a vote recounting from the RO.

The ECP declared vote-counting in 286 polling stations from the returning officer null and void and ordered the RO to present the final results.

It has been decided not to appoint the concerned RO Assistant Commission (AC) Tayyab Hayat to perform election duties again. The ECP decided to take legal action against the concerned officers.

Earlier in the day, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued its detailed verdict regarding the organization of the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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The ECP in its detailed verdict announced that the second phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province will be held on March 27.

The ECP announced the decision on a petition filed by Murtaza Javed, Sardar Yusuf and others.

The ECP made this decision in view of harsh weather in most of the districts where the polls are going to be held.

PML-N’s Murtaza Javed Abbasi had requested the electoral body to delay the polls in cold areas of the province due to snowfall in the month of January.

LG polls first phase

The first phase of LG polls was held in the KP province on Dec 19. The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as its arch-rival JUI-F managed to grab the highest number of seats in the city, tehsil councils, village and neighbourhood councils.

JUI-F’s Zubair Ali also won the hotly-contested poll for the top slot of Peshawar mayor. He bagged 62,388 votes followed by Rizwan Bangash of PTI with 50,659 votes.