Peshawar – Islamabad: The 2nd phase of local bodies elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is underway on Thursday (today), on 65 seats in 18 districts with over eight million voters eligible to cast their votes.
A total of 28,020 candidates are in the run for different categories in the polls being held in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Torghar, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Kolai-Palas, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Lower and Upper Dir, Upper and Lower Chitral, Kurram, Orakzai, and North and South Waziristan districts.
The local bodies are also taking place for the first time in formerly tribal districts of Kurram, Orakzai, North and South Waziristan.
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Sharing details of the elections and their arrangements, Special Assistant to Chief Minister KP Barrister Saif earlier said that all arrangements for the local bodies’ elections were completed.
Talking about the security measures undertaken by the provincial government for the safety of all involved in the process of election, Barrister Saif said that compared to the first phase, the 2nd phase of local bodies elections has now more security personnel involved and the army is also deployed where needed.
Special security has been ensured to protect women candidates.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 1,646 polling stations “most sensitive”, 2,326 “sensitive” and 2,069 normal out of the 6,176 polling stations. Adequate security arrangements have been made for the sensitive and most sensitive polling stations across the province
First phase of local bodies elections
The first phase of the local bodies elections was held in December last year, in which JUIF had surprised everyone by defeating the ruling PTI candidates in major districts and securing more seats.
JUIF had emerged as a leading party with 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons and three mayoral seats. However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s ruling party PTI had stood second with only one mayoral seat and 18 seats of tehsil chairpersons.
