PESHAWAR: Prime Minister of Pakistan and Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan accepted the defeat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local body elections. Mr Khan, however, tweeted that selection of the wrong candidate became the prime reason for the defeat.
PTI made mistakes in 1st phase of KP LG elections & paid the price. Wrong candidate selection was a major cause. From now on I will personally be overseeing PTI's LG election strategy in 2nd phase of KP LG elections & LG elections across Pak. InshaAllah PTI will come out stronger
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 21, 2021
Earlier Federal Minister of Science and Technology Shibli Faraz had said that the party’s performance was average, and that the leadership would utilise the experience in future.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) gained an unbeatable lead in the local body elections of KP. Despite being the incumbent government, PTI short fell with the opposition parties and independent candidates taking away crucial seats from the party.
According to the unofficial results, the JUI-F emerged victorious in 16 tehsils from a total of 64 tehsil councils. PTI managed to get hold of 14 tehsils. While Awami National Party (ANP) won six, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) three, Jamaat-e-Islami succeeded on two, while independent candidates won ten positions.
PTI did not win at any mayor seat from the four spots.
Himayatullah from ANP won the mayor position from Mardan by securing 56,458 votes. He defeated Amanat Shah Haqqani of JUI-F. From Peshawar, Bannu, and Kohat, JUI-F candidates secured mayor positions. Sher Zaman of JUI-F in Kohat and Irfanullah Durrani in Bannu won the mayor elections. Final results from Peshawar were halted as some polling stations faced law and order situation, resulting in the delay of the final polls.
JUI-F remained victorious in tehsils Pishtakhara and Mathra. Muhammad Haroon and Faridullah Khan represented JUI-F in both tehsils, respectively.
ANP took hold of tehsil Chamkani where Arbab Muhammad Umar gathered 24,415 votes. From Tehsil Hassan Khel, Hafeezur Rehman from PTI held on to the victory stand.