Re poling on PK-23 Shangla will be held tomorrow.
The results of polls in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly constituency, where Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Shaukat Yousafzai had emerged as the winner, were declared void due to low turnout of female voters.
Earlier on September 04, Supreme Court upheld decision of Election Commission for repolling in PK-23 Shangla on 10th of this month.
Hearing the case in Islamabad, a three member bench of the apex court rejected petition of Shaukat Yousafzai against verdict of the Commission.
The Election Commission had declared elections in the constituency null and void as less than ten percent women voters exercised their right of franchise in the general elections.
Earlier on September 03, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued a notification stating that polling for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Pk-23 Shangla will be held on September 10.
It said that first class magistrate’s powers have been given to army officers and Pak Army will be deployed from 9th to 11th of this month in the constituency.
Previously, the victory notification for the constituency was halted due to low women voter turnout and the ECP decided to conduct re-polling in the constituency. The top electoral body also summoned Pakistan Army to ensure a free, fair and transparent election in the constituency.
Earlier on August 8, the victory notification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Shaukat Ali of Pk-23 was halted due to low women turnout.
The ECP withheld the notification of Shangla constituency hours before it was due to issue a notification of all the candidates who were elected in the polls. A five-member bench, headed by the chief election commissioner, held the hearing.
Less than 10 per cent women voters turned out to vote for the provincial seat of PK-23. No one from the petitioner’s side or the winner’s side appeared for the hearing. The election bureau ordered to withhold the notification and sought a reply from the concerned authorities. The case will next be taken up on August 13.
Only 3,500 out of 86,698 women cast votes in the constituency while the number of male voters was 66,000 out of 1,14,000 men resulting in a 34 per cent total turnout.
