PESHAWAR/KURRAM: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi on Sunday won the by-election to National Assembly seat NA-45 Kurram.
According to the unofficial result, Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi secured 20,748 votes while Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) candidate Jamil Khan got 12,718 votes.
The polling process started at 08:00 am and continued up till 05:00 pm without any break. There are a total of 198,618 registered voters in the constituency, of which 111,349 were men and 87,269 were women. Similarly, a total of 143 polling stations were set up out of which 119 were declared very sensitive while 24 polling stations were put in the category of sensitive.
As many as 2,100 policemen were deployed on polling duty to maintain peace during the by-election. The PTI chief among 16 candidates was contesting during the by-election to NA-45 Kurram.
The seat of NA-45 was lying vacant after the demise of the JUI-F MNA Munir Khan Orakzai. This seat was won by PTI candidate Fakhar Zaman Khan in a February 2021 by-election but he later resigned from the along with other PTI member National Assembly.
There was a tough contest between PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PDM candidate Jamil Kham.
According to the Kurram district police officer, as many as 2,100 policemen remained alert to ensure peace during the balloting.
On Oct 21, a four-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan declared former prime minister and PTI Chief Imran Khan disqualified in Toshakhana reference. But the PTI head moved to the Islamabad High Court against the ECP verdict.
During the hearing the case on Oct 24, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that PTI Chief Imran Khan had not been barred from contesting in future elections.
After the observation by the IHC CJ, the ECP allowed Imran to run for the new polls.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the provincial election commission Sohail Ahmad said by-polls were held in a peaceful manner and no any major incident of violence was reported from any part of the constituency during the polling.
