ISLAMABAD: Over 684,000 voters will elect their representatives in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) local government polls today (Monday), as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is expected to face a challenge only from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). For the first time ever in Pakistan’s electoral history, the polling time will be from 7:00am to 5:30pm, enabling the maximum number of voters to take part in the exercise. The PML-N has fielded 506 candidates while the PTI has fielded 479 and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has fielded 164. The Pakistan People’s Party, once considered to be the only federal party, has managed to field only 81 candidates in the electoral field. There has been a string of hectic election-related activities going on, particularly in the rural parts of the federal capital since the start of November. It is interesting to mention here that there is not much difference between the number of voters in NA-48 and NA-49: Asad Umar of the PTI returned from NA-48 while Dr Tariq Fazal from NA-49; Asad by and large represents the urban population of the capital city while Dr Tariq represents the rural population. However, as many as 31 union councils have been charted out in NA-49 while there are just 19 in NA-48, a fact that has been protested by the PTI which said its vote bank has been undermined in this way. Their petition on this particular issue, which it had termed as a great disparity, was rejected a few weeks back by the Islamabad High Court. A majority of urban union councils consist of from 16,000 to 26,000 registered voters but the number of voters in areas belonging to rural Islamabad are far fewer, so much so that in one ward of UC-12, there are just 18 voters. Similarly, Bokra UC-44 comprises around 4,500 voters only. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already decided that army personnel would guard 62 highly sensitive buildings in the capital city and the Rangers are to be deployed at all 640 polling stations. There are no clear hints but it is still unclear who the supporters of local cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz will back. No banned outfit has been spotted canvassing for candidates of any political or religious party, while the JI and the JUI-F have fielded several candidates. There are a total of 370,000 male and 314,000 female voters, who will elect their representatives for 650 seats of the 50 union councils, which include 50 chairmen and as many vice-chairmen. There are some 3,000 candidates vying for a place in the local government in the capital city, including nearly 1,000 independents. It is widely believed that the PML-N is poised for a big win from mostly the rural areas of Islamabad while the PTI can pocket a majority of seats from the urban localities of the federal capital. There are 255 candidates for the seats of chairmen and vice-chairmen, whereas 1,210 are in the field for general councillor seats. Against the seats of women, the candidature of 351 has been cleared. For the seats of Kissan and workers, 248 candidates are in the electoral arena, whereas 230 have been cleared for the seats meant for youth. There are 102 vying for seats meant for the non-Muslims. Each union council will consist of 13 members: a chairman a vice-chairman, six general seats, two for women and one each for Kissan, youth and non-Muslims. Meanwhile, Asad Umar has moved the Chief Election Commissioner to take notice of what he called a violation of the code of conduct by changing the position of several polling stations. He called for a reversal of the same prior to the polls. He also drew his attention to the publication in several newspapers of congratulations to the newly-installed minister Dr Tariq Fazal from the federal capital by several candidates belonging to the PML-N, including Wajid Ayub, Raja Mujahid and Muhammad Dawood Sheikh. Asad Umar also wanted an extension in the polling time so that a large number of voters in the urban areas who are government employees can cast their votes after the official time of their duty.
