Islamabad, May 18 (IANS): Women in the Shangla district of Pakistani's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been deprived of their right to vote in by-elections for two village councils, a media report said on Thursday.
Local notables and the candidates for two village councils of Shangla, Koz Kana and Sangrai collectively agreed that women would not be allowed to cast their votes, Dawn News reported.
"No women turned up to vote at the 14 polling stations in the two villages," the report said.
District Election Officer (DEO) Sardar Said ur Rehman confirmed to Dawn that the ban was imposed by locals "according to their culture and that, unfortunately the locals are not willing".
Out of 6,643 registered voters in Koz Kana 3,652 were male and 2,991 female.
Similarly, 1,507 voters are registered in Sangrai, of which 862 were male and 705 were female.