KPK LG elections again shows problem of rejected votes: PM

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that the local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) have again shown the problem of rejected votes because of double stamping.

In a tweet today, the PM said that the same happened in the 2013 elections, as per the Judicial Commission's report.

"The ability to manipulate elections through getting opponent votes rejected is one of the reasons the status quo opposes Electronic Voting Machines."

On Sunday, re-polling was conducted at different polling stations in 13 districts for local government elections in KPK.

As per unofficial and preliminary results, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) consolidated its position by leading with 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) stood second with 18 seats.

JUI-F won on 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons, PTI (18), independents (10), ANP (7), PML-N (3), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Tehreek-e-Islahat Pakistan (TIP) two each, and PPP become successful on one seat.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said that PTI superseded JUI-F in the recently-held election for mayor, negating the impression that the party was wiped out from the province.

Khattak explains PTI’s performance in KP local government polls

Khattak said the PTI’s opponents had staged a propaganda after the JUI-F emerged victorious with a thin majority in the first phase of local government elections.

Khattak said the PTI had won nearly 18 tehsils in the first phase of LG elections, while four independent candidates had also joined the party.

He confessed that the PTI provincial organisation had taken the first phase of elections quite easy due to which parties such as the JUI-F managed to get some seats, adding the PTI would give a humiliating defeat to all the parties in the second phase.