According to results received so far, PTI remains at top with 174 seats followed by ANP 89 seats while Independents are on third position with 99 seats of district councils and Tehsil councils.
Similarly, JUI-F secured 51 seats, JI 58, PML-N 64, PPPP 24 and Qaumi Watan Party 12.
In KP, the District Returning Officers have started compilation of results of local government polls.
There were 84,420 candidates in the run for 41,762 seats throughout the province.
ANP got 51 seats, Jamaat-e-Islami 49, JUI(F) 44, PML(N) forty one, PPPP 23and Qaumi Watan Party got nine seats.
Former information minister and general secretary ANP Mian Iftikhar Hussain was arrested on charges of killing PTI worker in early hours of Sunday.
Mr. Hussain was taken to Pabbi police station shortly after he was held from his residence. PTI man Sher Khan had lodged an FIR against Hussain for ordering his guards to open fire at PTI rally last night in Pabbi Bazar of Nawshera, which resulted a death of Tehreek Insaf worker.
He has been presented at a judicial magistrate court for hearing.
Political parties come for heavy criticism in colluding to prevent women from voting
All political parties taking part in today’s local election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came in for heavy criticism during a special transmission on ARY News on the polls when several analysts accused them of actively colluding to prevent female voters from exercising their right of franchise. This happened when Waseem Badami was anchoring the transmission and several analysts, especially Sami Ibrahim, said that if political parties led the way on this issue they could bring about great social change. They said that if the men of a family brought along with them their female voters, then there was no way that women could be stopped from voting. They said it was unfortunate that today’s political parties — across the spectrum including the JI, ANP, PTI, PPP, PML-N and others — also worked together to prevent women from voting and that all that the Election Commission could do about this was to issue statements.
A screengrab of the discussion on ARY News when all political parties came in for heavy criticism for colluding to prevent women from voting
CM Khyber Pakhtunkhwa expresses reservations on role of ECP
In an interview with Waseem Badami on ARY News, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak said that he had reservations on the role of the Election Commission’s performance. Mr Badami also asked the chief minister whether he would accept the results of today’s election given that they were conducted by the PTI-led government, to which Mr Khattak replied “Woh dhandli aur thi, yeh dhandli aur hai” (“That rigging was different, this rigging is different”). The anchor immediately asked him to clarify this to which the chief minister said that “dhandli” took place in the 2013 and in this local bodies election there was none (he used the Urdu phrase “Kissi ka baap bhi nahin kar sakta dhandli iss election mein”).
A screengrab of Khyber Pakthunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak speaking to Waseem Badami
Rigging allegations surface
Allegations of serious rigging seem to be surfacing during the coverage of the ongoing local bodies election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A woman at a polling station in Peshawar told ARY News’s Iqrarul Hassan said: “They should just end the election right now. Enough [rigging] has been done.”
Mr Hassan asked the woman what she meant by this and she repeated what she had said: “Enough has been done. The provincial government should just close the election”. This was around 2 pm, with several hours left to go till the end of polling.
Mr Hassan later told a special transmission of ARY News on the local elections that he believed that the election was being manipulated and that rigging was going on. He was told that according to the Election Commission, out of over 11,000 polling stations reports of rigging had been received from “only 100 or so”. To this he replied that if this was the case at a polling station in the capital Peshawar, then one could well imagine the situation in the rural areas.
Earlier during the transmission, the KP government’s information minister was asked about the allegations and insisted that the election was going on fine and that such thing was taking place.
The extent of the rigging allegations was such that it was dominating social media all day long with the hashtag #RiggedTabdeeli trending at Number 1 on Twitter for much of the day.
A screengrab showing a female voter speaking to ARY’s Iqrarul Hassan at a polling station in Peshawar. She told him that the provincial government should stop the election.
Election Commission takes note of reports of women being denied their right to vote
The Election Commission of Pakistan has taken note of reports of women being denied their right to vote in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s local elections currently underway. It has directed the returning officers to ensure that female voters are able to exercise their right to franchise within their jurisdictions. However, given that this instruction has come so late on polling day, it remains unclear to what extent it will be practically implemented on the ground.
Complaints of women not being allowed to vote, of instances of violence and rigging have been reported so far in today’s ongoing local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Several reports of women not being allowed to vote or of polling station being shut entirely. A day before the election the United National Development Programme and the European Union had issued a statement asking the provincial governments to ensure that women are able to exercise their right to vote.
Not a single women vote polled in Union Council Adeena, Swabi, registered women voters are 4615. #LGKP2015#Pakistan
— Iftikhar Firdous (@IftikharFirdous) May 30, 2015
An empty women’s polling station in Kabal, Swat — Source: Twitter
3 women injured at polling station
Three women were reported injured in firing at a polling station in the Nasapa area near Peshawar. The military was called in to restore order.
Troops take control of tense Abbottabad polling station
The Army troops took control of polling station number 458 of Abbottabad after tensions between the supporters of the rival candidates. A number of high profile candidates contesting local bodies elections in Abbottabad including Shamoon Abbasi a son of Governor Mehtab Abbasi.
This morning as the polling began across the province complaints of restraining the women voters to exercise their right to vote reported at scores of the polling stations in Dera Ismail Khan, Charsadda, Nowshera, Hangu and Swabi districts.
Voting taking place earlier today at the Swat Press Club – which was converted into a polling station by the district administration.
A joint statement by European Union and United Nations Development Programme on Friday urged the Pakistani government and the government of KPK to take notice of the fact that women were being restrained from voting, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Incident of scuffles among supporters of rival candidates
At several polling stations scuffles reported among the supporters of the rival candidates. The supporters of various political parties engaged in scuffles in Peshawar, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan and exchanged blows. The supporters of candidates also alleged irregularities against rivals.
In Kohat a candidate of tehsil council Zameer Gul was abducted from union council Shor Gul while presiding officer has been reported missing in Bannu with ballot papers.
Rampant incidents of restraining women voters
The local people with a consensus decision prohibited the women to cast their votes in Deena union council in district Swabi. In the area 4615 women have been registered as voters. Moreover, Men entered in a polling station of Abbottabad to forbid women from casting their votes.
Local people forcefully stopped polling at a women polling station in union council Haji Zai in Charsadda.
In Nowshera local elders stopped women to cast their votes in union council Bhallo in the ongoing local bodies election. According to reports the women were also stopped to cast their votes in Tank district.
In a union council of the provincial capital city Peshawar local people forcefully stopped polling at a women polling station in union council 41.
In Dera Ismail Khan local elders in union council Kech deprived the women voters from exercising their right to vote again. The women of the area could not cast their votes in elections for last 30 years.
The election commission has directed the provincial government and District Returning Officers (DROs) to take steps as women could cast their votes.
Police captured bogus ballot papers from the car of a candidate at Charsadda’s Tangi road. Police arrested four people in the car.
The candidates of major political parties PTI, PML-N, PPP, Jamat Islami, ANP and JUI contesting with their parties election symbols.
Around 5000 candidates in the province have returned unopposed in the election. Under the electoral rules the electioneering was concluded 24 hours before the polling. Over 10 million voters of the province will use their right to vote today to elect their representatives for local councils-the grassroots level democratic institutions.
The election authorities have declared 2500 polling stations of the province as sensitive and stern security arrangements have been made to avoid any untoward incident during the election.
