All set for NA-246 by-poll as parties look to win city’s political heart

Karachi
The stage is set for the by-polls for NA 246 on Thursday (today) – a seat vacated by Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA Nabil Gabol, who later resigned from the party too. Polling will be held from 9am to 5pm without any break.
The by-elections are believed to be a contest mainly between MQM’s Kunwar Naveed Jamil, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Imran Ismail and the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Rashid Naseem.
The election commission has made elaborate arrangements and taken special measures to ensure that the polls take place peacefully and transparently.
Rangers will be deployed in and outside polling stations and all 213 polling stations in the constituency have been declared “sensitive”.
The entry of any unconcerned person including high profile personalities into the vicinity of the polling stations is strictly prohibited
The authorities have set up a command and control room at the office of the Central district deputy commissioner to monitor the by-elections.
The control room began functioning on Wednesday morning and presiding officers have started arriving at the deputy commissioner’s office for election material.
Police officials will be present at the control room during polling. The control room has been equipped with wireless sets, phone lines and television sets.
Election campaigns for the by-polls ended on Tuesday midnight and ballot boxes have been dispatched to the polling stations.
Pillion riding has been banned throughout the city for three days.
Ballot boxes and compartments for making polling booth have also been dispatched while the delivery of other material for polling stations is under way. Voter lists, permanent ink and stationary will be delivered to polling stations by midnight on Wednesday.
Presiding officers, under the supervision of Rangers and police, will bring ballot papers to polling stations early morning on Thursday.
Special passes have been issued to polling staff to be deployed in NA-246 and for the first time in the country’s history, CCTV cameras have also been installed. The cameras were installed on the request of Rangers.

MQM’s request turned down
The Election Commission of Pakistan turned down the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s requests to allow voters to cast their ballots in the NA-246 by-polls using identification documents other than the original computerised national identity card i.e. its photocopy, passport, driving licence and cell-phones.
Besides, the law enforcement agencies also refused to entertain the MQM’s request to lift the three-day ban on pillion riding imposed in the Central district.
“Voters will have to present their original CNICs. Even if a CNIC is expired, it will still be good enough to cast vote,” an ECP official told The News.
“Voters will not be allowed to carry their cell phones inside polling stations. Votes can’t be cast on any document other than the original CNIC. Photocopies of CNICs, passports, driving licenes or any document won’t be accepted.”

Security measures
Over 10,000 security personnel, including 3,000 Rangers and 7,000 policemen with armoured personnel carriers and assisted by the anti-riot force and snipers will be deployed in the constituency.
“In case there is any trouble at these polling stations, our quick response contingents of police and Rangers will reach there within three or five minutes,” Karachi police chief . Ghulam Qadir Thebo told reporters.
The law enforcement agencies have declared 20 of the 55 buildings in constituency housing 213 polling stations as “flash points” or those vulnerable to an outbreak of violence. They include e the Sirajul Daula College and other stations in Liaquatabad, Bandhani Colony, Ghreebabad and Sharifabad.
It has been decided additional security personnel would be deployed there.
At a meeting, Karachi commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, city’s police chief Ghulam Qadir Thebo, the Rangers sector commander and returning officer Nadeem Haider asked the contesting candidates to cooperate with the administration, the ECP and the law enforcement agencies.
Rangers’ officials told the candidates that their men would be present inside and outside the 769 polling booths. Besides, the booths will also be monitored through CCTV cameras installed at each of the 213 polling stations. They were also told to set up their polling camps for the guidance of voters outside 400 yards of the polling stations.
The demand to cast votes on documents other than the original CNIC was made by MQM representatives Muhammad Hussain and Waseem Qureshi.
Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Monim Zafar and Sajjad Ahmed Dara had demanded that unauthorised persons should not be allowed to enter polling stations. They had also insisted on installing of biometric verification systems at polling stations. However, this request too was rejected by the ECP.

‘Occupied Karachi’
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief said that the NA-246 by-elections were being conducted as if Karachi was an occupied region and the installation of CCTV cameras at polling stations were a proof of that.
“These are tactics to harass voters,” Altaf Hussain said in a telephonic speech to party activists and supporters attending a musical event at the Jinnah Ground. “We have no objections over the CCTV cameras, but why weren’t they installed during the elections in Punjab and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa?” he asked.
The MQM chief said the residents of Karachi and other parts of the province were peace-loving, democratic and liberal and rejected religious extremism.
He appealed to the authorities not to treat Karachi like an occupied region.
Hussain demanded that intellectuals and writers should raise their voices over the discrimination against the citizens of Karachi.
He also demanded that local government elections should be conducted immediately in province.
He said funds should be allocated for the mass transit system in Karachi and a local policing system should be introduced to minimise people’s grievances.
Hussain said the Supreme Court of Pakistan had observed in its verdict that most political and religious parties in Karachi had militant wings, but only the MQM was being victimised.
The MQM chief said the law enforcement agencies had directed the citizens of Karachi to carry their original CNICs, but there were no such orders for the Tajiks, Uzbeks and other foreigners present in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.