KP local govt elections: PTI’s Umar Amin Gandapur wins the mayoral seat of DIK

• JUI-F candidate Mohammad Kafeel Ahmed managed to get 38,891 votes.
• Asad Umar scoffs JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman over defeat in DIK. 
• Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) managed to win one seat each.

Ruling party PTI candidate Umar Amin Gandapur defeated JUI-F Mohammad Kafeel Ahmed in Dera Ismail Khan (DIK) for the mayoral seat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the first phase of local government (LG) re-polling elections on Sunday, Geo News reported.

According to the unofficial and unverified results obtained by Geo News, PTI candidate Umar Amin, who is also the brother of Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, has been elected as mayor of DIK, leaving behind his rival JUI-F’s Mohammad Kafeel Ahmed with a heavy margin of more than 24,000 votes.

Umar Amin secured 63,753 votes, while JUI-F candidate Mohammad Kafeel Ahmed managed to get 38,891 votes.

On Sunday, following the directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), re-polling was conducted at different polling stations in 13 districts for local government elections in KP.

During the first phase of KP local government elections in December 2021, polling was subsequently suspended or could not start in many districts due to riots and a deteriorating law and order situation.

Asad Umar scoffed at JUI-F chief Fazl-ur-Rehman over defeat in DIK

Federal Minister for planning Asad Umar scoffed at JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman over defeat in DIK and congratulated Umar Amin Gandapur on a clear victory.

Asad Umar, in a Tweet said that Maulana is not even capable of maintaining a victory in his hometown and is going to dislodge the government.

First, he [Fazl-ur-Rehman] was defeated in general elections by the PTI and now in the local body in his hometown, Great Umar Amin Gandapur, he wrote.

According to unofficial results obtained by The News, ruling party PTI candidates have won the elections in six constituencies while JUI-F secured four seats in the re-polling for the first phase of LG polls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, the Awami National Party (ANP) and Jamat-e-Islami (JI) managed to win one seat each.

Peshawar Mayor was won by JUI-F, while PTI won in Nowshehra, Jahangera, Banda Daud Shah, Domail and Dera Ismail Khan Tehsil Council elections.

It is worth noting that the first phase of the local government election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was held in December 2021, and the ruling party PTI suffered a major setback as the opposition parties, particularly JUI-F, won a clean victory.

The PTI leaders had accepted their defeat as the ruling party could not grab a single mayor's seat out of the four.

Awami National Party's (ANP) Himayatullah was elected as the mayor of Mardan with 56,458 votes, followed by the JUI-F's Amanat Shah Haqqani with 49,938 votes. The JUI-F's candidates had secured the remaining three seats as mayors in Kohat, Bannu, and Peshawar.