Polling concludes for first ever LG polls in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Polling for the first-ever Local Government elections in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) concluded at 5:30PM. Earlier there were rumors that the polling time may be extended by the ECP.

In line with tradition Geo News broke the first unofficial, unconfirmed results of the election starting first with those candidates that came out victorious unopposed. The unofficial, unconfirmed results for the remaining seats began rolling in after the expiration of the stipulated embargo period set by the ECP.

The first-ever Local Government elections took place in the capital on Monday under strict security.

Polling began at 7:00 in the morning and concluded at 5:30 in the evening.

Over 2,400 candidates contested for the slots of chairman, vice chairman and councillors.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), Army, Rangers and FC soldiers were deployed to assist the Police.

Over 684,000 voters will elect their representatives in, 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.

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 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.