Gulshan Town sees tough contest between JI and PTI

A tough competition was witnessed between the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Sunday during the second phase of the local government elections in Karachi’s Gulshan Town, where the voter turnout remained low.

Despite the confusion over the holding of the LG polls and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) boycott of the elections at the eleventh hour, the JI, the PTI and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) managed to mobilise a considerable number of voters.

The JI and PTI had formed an alliance for seat adjustment to contest the 2015 LG elections but had lost to the MQM-P. This time round, however, they contested the LG polls separately. The PPP, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and other parties had also fielded their candidates, but their presence was not that visible at the election camps set up outside the polling stations.

Political parties had established their camps outside the polling stations to help the voters find their polling stations. Police personnel were deployed outside the polling stations to avoid any untoward incident.

Voting was carried out in a peaceful atmosphere, and voters cast their ballots without any hassle. Talking to The News, the polling staff in UC-4 expressed satisfaction over the election arrangements.

They said that polling had started at 8am, but there was low turnout until 2pm. However, they added, the number of voters gradually increased until the end of polling time.