KP local govt elections: JUI-F takes unassailable lead as PTI suffers major setback

• JUI-F takes the lead in KP local government election, PTI on the back foot.
• Peshawar mayor election result halted due to postponement of polling amid law and order situation.
  
• JUI-F emerges victorious in 16 tehsil council seats, PTI wins 14, as per unofficial results.

The Opposition parties, particularly JUI-F, have taken an unassailable lead in Khyber Pakhtunkwa's ongoing local body elections, leaving PTI behind, according to unofficial results.

The PTI leaders have accepted their defeat as the ruling party could not grab a single mayor seat out of the four. The PTI could win a tehsil in Peshawar out of six tehsils.

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

The results, however, for the election of mayor in Peshawar have been stopped by the ECP on account of postponement of polling on some polling stations due to a law and order situation there.

The JUI-F's candidate Sher Zaman grabbed the mayor seat in Kohat with 34,434 votes and Irfanullah Durrani won in Bannu with 59,844 votes. Independent candidate Saifullah Jan trailed Zaman with 25,793 votes and PTI's Iqbal Jadoon could secure 47,398 votes, trailing Durrani in Bannu.

In Peshawar, JUI-F's candidate Zubair Ali bagged as many as 62,388 votes - a wide margin of over 10,000 votes over PTI's Muhammad Rizwan Bangash, who is the runner-up and has amassed 50,659 votes, according to unofficial results.

Out of 521, the unofficial results of 515 polling stations have been released for the city mayor. Results from six polling stations have been withheld.

In Peshawar's Peshtakhara tehsil, JUI-F's Muhammed Haroon grabbed 11,295 votes, followed by PML-N's Zahir Khan with 10,158 votes.

In Peshawar's Mathra tehsil, JUI-F's Faridullah Khan got 22,000 votes, followed by Jamat-e-Islami's Iftikhar Ahmed with 15,844 votes.

In Peshawar's Chamkani tehsil, ANP's Arbab Muhammed Umar succeeded with 24,415 votes, followed by PTI's Nabi Gul with 20,398 votes.

In Peshawar's Hassan Khel tehsil, PTI's Hafeezur Rehman got the seat with JUI-F's Malik Nazarbaz came as a runner-up.

In Peshawar's Shah Alam tehsil, the PTI's candidate leads the race while ANP's candidate leads the race in Peshawar's Badhber tehsil.

There are five city councils in the province, however, the elections are taking place only on four as the polls in Dera Ismail Khan were postponed after ANP's candidate for mayor, Umar Khittab Sherani was shot dead.

In the 64 tehsil council unofficial results obtained so far, the JUI-F has emerged victorious in 16 tehsil council seats while the PTI has won in 14.

Independent candidates have won 10, ANP six, PML-N three, Jamaat-e-Islami two, and Tehreek-e-Istiqlal in the tehsil council elections.