Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Monday criticised Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not issuing notification of by-polls in PK-95 (Dir-Lower II) and announced province-wide protest and sit-ins outside ECP offices in Islamabad on November 27.
Speaking at a news conference at the Press Club, the JI ameer said that his party’s candidate, Izazul Mulk had won the by-election by securing 20,288 votes against the ANP’s Haji Bahadur Khan. The seat was vacated by JI Chief Sirajul Haq after his election as Senator.
The KP JI chief said that polling was held in a peaceful manner on May 7, but some representatives of an NGO, who did not hail from Dir, nor were registered voters in the constituency, had challenged the results on the pretext of barring women from the electoral process.
The Provincial Deputy Ameer Dr Iqbal Khalil, Izazul Mulk Afkari, Azizullah Khan and Muhammad Iqbal were present on the occasion.
The JI amir said that ECP had summoned people for hearing, which, he said, was in violation of the rules. He said there was no proof of barring women from the contest as there was no written agreement between political parties. But despite that, the ECP declared results of the provincial assembly constituency null and void.
