The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced to conduct the repolling at 221 polling stations in 12 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa declaring that the re-elections for the first phase of Local Government polls in the province will be held on Feb 13, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The ECP said on Wednesday that it was holding repolling at 221 polling stations in 12 different districts of the KP as the election process was aborted at these polling stations following incidents of violence, mayhem and rigging allegations.

The voting for the first phase of LG elections was held in 17 districts including Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and Peshawar on Dec 19, 2021. However, the polling was marred by incidents of violence and irregularities. 

As many as 37,752 candidates were in the run for different categories in the first phase of the elections. Among these 689 were in the run to lead the city and tehsil councils while 19,285 candidates were in the run for the slot of general councillors, chairmen in village and neighbourhood councils. According to the ECP, 12.66 million voters were registered across the 17 districts with 7.015 million male voters and 5.653 million female voters. A total of 9,223 polling stations and 28,892 polling booths were set up for first phase of LG polling.

However, the second phase of local body elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be held in March. The elections will be held in 18 districts of the province including Hazara and Malakand divisions. 

Reporter Usman Khan