LOWER DIR: The Jamaat-i-Islami members of tehsil council Balambat on Thursday rejected the election of the council’s acting chairman and convener and announced to challenge the election. The announcement was made during a meeting of the JI affiliated village council chairmen. Speaking on the occasion the JI members tehsil council Naikdar Khan, Munaeem Shah, Rahim Zada, Shah Hassan, Shabir Ahmad, Dilawar Khan and others termed the election of the acting chairman Sheikh Naseeb Rawan and convener Sahibullah as a drama and an unconstitutional act under the local government rules. They alleged the opponents in their absence elected each other which they would never accept. They demanded the election commission to take notice of the matter and declared this election as null and void.
Earlier in the day the members from the ruling PTI with the support of PPP and ANP members during a meeting of the council elected Sheikh Naseeb Rawan of the PTI as acting chairman who later on, while exercising his powers elected Sahibullah of the PPP as convener of the council. The tehsil chairman position had been vacant because the PTI elected chairman Asim Shuiab had gone underground since May 9 riots. He was wanted by police in several cases.
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Talking to local journalists after the election the newly elected acting chairman Sheikh Naseeb Rawan said that he would vacate the position once its actual chairman Asim Shuiab returned to the council. He said the council’s members had suffered due to his absence and he would run the council with the consultation of the PTI, PPP and ANP members.