Independents grab most seats in merged districts’ elections

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 06 Jan 2023

People in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s newly merged districts cast their votes to elect provincial representatives on Saturday for the first time in history. The unofficial and unverified results have started pouring in. 

Independents swept the elections winning seven seats. The PTI won five, JUI-F two and JI and ANP won one each.

Sixteen seats are being contested in seven districts. Of the 285 candidates standing for the election, 202 are independent candidates. There are over 2.8 million registered voters in the area, of which 1.13 million are women.

At 16, the PTI has the most candidates contesting the election from a political party. The JUI-F has 15 candidates, ANP has 14, PPP and JI both have 13 and the PML-N has five candidates. Two women are also contesting the election – the ANP’s Naheed Afridi in PK-106 Khyber and JI’s Malasa Bibi in PK-108 Kurram.

A total of 1,897 polling stations have been set up across the merged districts. Of these, 482 have been reserved for men, 376 for women, and 1,049 are combined. Pakistan Army, police and Frontier Constabulary personnel have been deployed at polling stations across the seven districts.

Unverified, unofficial results

PK-100 (Bajaur-1)

5/104 polling stations

Waheed Gul (Jamat-e-Islami) - 1,037

Gul Afzal (Awami National Party) - 538

PK-103 (Mohmand-1)

10/86 polling stations

Nisar Ahmed (Awami National Party) - 1,741

Rahim Shah (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 1,236

PK-104 (Mohamand-2)

2/108 polling stations

Muhammad Arif (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl) - 496

Sajjad Khan (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 326

PK-108 (Kurram -1)

29/135 polling stations

Muhammad Riaz (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl) - 2,291

Jameel Khan (Independent) - 1,596

Pk-109 (Kurram-2)

24/130 polling stations

Syed Iqbal Mian (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 9,229

Inayat Hussain (Independent) - 3,944

PK-110 (Orakzai)

4/175 polling stations

Shoaib Hasan (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 261

Syed Ghazi Ghazan (Independent) - 115

PK-111 (North Waziristan-1)

11/76 polling stations

Samiud Din (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl) - 1,154

Muhammad Iqbal Khan (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 1,165

PK-112 (North Waziristan-2)

17/102 polling stations

Mir Kalam Khan (Independent) - 2,748 

Siddiqullah (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl) - 1,544

PK-115 (Former Frontier Regions)

30/163 polling stations

Abid ur Rehman (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) - 4,738

Muhammad Shoaib (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl) -4,431