Prime Minister Imran Khan took to Twitter on Tuesday morning to declare that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lost the first phase of Local Elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) as they had not selected the right candidates for the running.

He also declared that he will personally be looking into PTI’s local election strategy for phase two of local elections in not only K-P but also local elections across the country. He vowed that PTI will come out stronger.

PM Khan’s tweet comes after the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Fazl on Monday, bagged the most seats in K-P’s Local Government polls. According to the provincial results published by the Election Comission of Pakistan on Monday for 39 out of the 63 tehsils, JUI-F won 15 seats, while their candidates were runner ups in many others.

JUI-F’s Peshawar candidate for mayorship, Haji Zubair also beat out PTI’s Rizwan Bangash for the coveted seat. Zubair and Bangash secured 62,388 against 50,659 votes respectively.

However, the ECP is yet to declare the final results for the seat of Peshawar’s mayor, as polling had to be postponed at least six stations due to indiscipline and violence.

PTI could only get one tehsil chairperson seat in Peshawar while JUI-F managed to secure four. JUI-F not only made a distinct mark in the provincial province for the first time but also beat out National Awami Party at its home turf, Charsadda. JUI-F lost the mayor seat in Mardan by a thin margin of 6000 votes but they were able secure three tehsil seats while ANP took two out of five.

In Noshera, PTI and JUI-F won one tehsil chairperson seat each, while the result from the third is still awaited.

In Swabi, results were even with the JUI-F, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, ANP and PTI, each winning a tehsil chairperson seat.

In Kohat, JUI-F and an independent candidate won two of the three tehsil chairperson seats, while the results of the third seat have yet to be announced.

In Bannu, JUI-F has one at least one of the six tehsils, while results have yet to be announced for the remaining five. JUI-F also managed to sweep both the tehsils in Tank.

Ironically, out of the six tehsil chairperson seats in Dera Ismail Khan, the hometown of JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, four of the six seats were taking by PTI, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and an independent candidate.

PTI managed to save some face in the Buner district, where they secured four of the six chairperson seats, one seat ANP secured while the results were awaited for the last one.

In Haripur, the PML-N secured two seats and an independent candidate won the third.

The first phase of the local body elections were held in K-P on Sunday in 17 districts. The second phase of elections are set to start on January 16, 2022.