PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Arbab Amir Ayub isleading with a massive margin inNA-4 by-poll after unofficial resultsof 207 polling stations out of 269.
According to the unofficial results,PTI bagged 37226 votes, PMl-Nreceived 20097 votes and ANP got19468.
Counting for the by-poll wasunderway after the voting endedpeacefully at 05:00pm.
The local district administration hasannounced a public holiday in theconstituency today.
According to the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP), 100polling booths are using the EVMsalongside the manual votingprocess.
Six political and eight independentcandidates are vying for the MNAslot; they include PTI’s Arbab AmirAyub, Asad Gulzar — late incumbentGulzar Khan’s son — for PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP), AwamiNational Party’s (ANP) KhushdilKhan, Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) WisalFarooq, Tehreek-e-Labaik’s AllamaShafiq Amini, and Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz’s (PML-N) NasirKhan Moosa Zai.
Apart from 1,400 army personnel,around 4,500 police officials werestationed for security in and aroundthe polling stations.
The seat had fallen vacant owing tothe death of PTI’s dissident MNAGulzar Khan. The month-longelection campaign came to an endTuesday night with the 14 candidatesand their supporters using everymeans to seek votes. It is generallybelieved that the real contest wouldbe among PTI’s Arbab Amir Ayub,PML-N candidate Nasir KhanMusazai and Khushdil Khan of ANP.