ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan today admitted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has paid the price for mistakes the party made in first phase of local government elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
“PTI made mistakes in 1st phase of KP LG elections & paid the price. Wrong candidate selection was a major cause,” Prime Minister Khan tweeted.
“From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI’s LG election strategy in 2nd phase of KP LG elections & LG elections across Pakistan. InshaAllah PTI will come out stronger.”
According to the provisional results declared by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the JUI-F managed to grab the highest number of mayor /chairman seats in the elections for 39 tehsils.
The JUI-F won 15 seats of mayors/chairm3n. It also has a definitive lead in the hotly contested election for the post of the mayor of Peshawar city where JUI-F’s Haji Zubair bagged 62,388 votes against 50,659 votes of PTI’s Rizwan Bangash.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker KP Assembly Mahmood Jan has accused PTI lawmakers for being disloyal to the party and blamed them for defeat in the LG polls.
Jan’s brother Ehtesham Khan contested for Tehsil Mathra’s chairmanship and finished at third place. JUI-F’s Fareedullah won the constituency followed by JI’s Amtikhar Ahmed.
“MNA Noor Alam Khan was openly supporting JUI-F candidate, his brother-in-law,” said Mahmood Jan. “My adjacent MPA Arbab Wasim Hayat was backing an independent candidate.”
The deputy speaker said PTI lawmakers had sold their loyalty for pennies.
He asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to take notice of this. “When the prime minister was in Peshawar, I told him that they [the two lawmakers] are going against the party and not supporting the members,” he added.
So far, according to unofficial and unverified results, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) is leading with 17 seats. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is in the second position with 11 seats. Independent candidates have won in seven tehsils. Awami National Party (ANP) has so far won in six tehsils.
