PTI wins provincial assembly seat vacated by PML-N

MINGORA: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf won the PK-86, Swat-VII provincial assembly seat in by-election on Thursday. The seat fell vacant after an election tribunal disqualified Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Qaimoos Khan over fake degree. According to unofficial results, PTI candidate Dr Haider Ali Khan won the by-election by securing 17,420 votes at all the 85 polling stations in the constituency. Sardar Khan of PML-N stood second by bagging 16,346 votes, while JUI-F candidate Ali Shah secured third position by getting 10,072. The overall turnout was 40 per cent. The constituency has 134,614 registered voters for whom 85 polling stations were set up, including 29 for men, 29 for women and 27 for both. The administration had declared 42 polling stations the most sensitive, 36 sensitive and seven normal. Polling the seat took place peacefully between 8am and 5pm without break. The Khwazakhela police briefly arrested two women for polling bogus votes. The two, including Muskan and Rukhsan, both residents of Peshawar, were later freed. The local administration had put in place tight security checks at polling stations. After the announcement of the unofficial results, the PTI activists and sympathisers in different parts of the district came onto the streets to celebrate the party’s victory in the by-election. CM CONGRATULATES THE WINNER: Provincial Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has congratulated Dr Haider Ali for winning the PK-86, Swat by-election and attributed his victory to the PTI’s growing popularity in the province and the people’s confidence in the policies of the party’s provincial government. The chief minister the tsunami of change, which began its journey under the leadership of PTI chairman Imran Khan, had not subsided and instead was moving ahead with more strength and vigour. He said the PTI tsunami would sweep the entire country with the people’s support. In a message of congratulation to the party candidate, Mr Khattak said the people were sick of the decades long exploitative and anti-people policies of the traditional hereditary politicians, so they wanted practical change and PTI had provided them with a ray of hope. “The brave and politically aware people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had accorded support to that voice to begin the journey towards massive change in the province. Now, this change will happen in the whole country,” he said. The chief minister expressed the hope that the newly-elected MPA would work for the progress and development of the area, resolve the local residents’ grievances, play an effective role for effective legislation in the province and make sincere efforts for strengthening the party,” he said. Mr Khattak said he expected that the MPA-elect would play a pivotal role in the elimination of corruption and nepotism from the public sector organisations to make them reflective of the people’s expectations. Also, provincial information minister Shah Farman congratulated the MPA-elect and said the PTI-led government’s revolutionary steps in education, health and other sectors were appreciated by the people. He said the public support of the provincial government was fast increasing and that was why a number of political figures were joining PTI.