HANGU (National Times)- PTI’s candidate Dr Nadeem Khayal has won the by-election in the NA-33 constituency of Hangu, according to the unofficial, preliminary results.
The development was confirmed by the spokesperson of the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Preliminary results from all 210 polling stations show that JUI-F’s Ubaid Ullah stood second by securing 18,244, Saeed Umar of the ANP bagged 3,314 votes, while independent candidates Ateeq Ahmed and Muhammad secured 256 and 25 votes, respectively.
The seat had fallen vacant after the demise of PTI MNA Haji Khayal after which the PTI issued a ticket to his son, Nadeem Khayal, to contest the polls.
The polling began at 8 am with around 4,500 cops deployed in the area to avert any untoward incident and continued uninterrupted till 5pm.
A fierce contest was expected between PTI, JUI-F and ANP for the National Assembly seat in Hangu, but the PTI attained success.
Hangu District Police Officer Ikramullah said while talking to the media that the security arrangements had been finalised prior to the polls by the ECP to hold a peaceful and transparent by-poll.
The Quick Response Force and Rapid Response Force personnel, patrolled across the constituency during the polling process, while the Frontier Reserve Police remained on standby at the police lines to cope with any emergency.
Over 0.314 million people exercised their right to vote and five candidates contested the by-election in NA-33.
A spokesperson of the ECP had earlier said 210 polling stations, including 55 for women only and 91 combined for both men and women, had been set up for the poll.
According to the official, 110 of these polling stations were declared sensitive while 77 had been declared highly sensitive.
A control room had also been set up at the office of the Provincial Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to monitor the by-election. The chief election commissioner had appealed to voters to exercise their right to vote without any fear, saying that no interference in the polling process will be tolerated and immediate action will be taken against any violation.
